


Playing Blind

by AbelSephaos



Category: Naruto, 더 게이머 | The Gamer (Webcomic)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:54:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 60,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27340795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbelSephaos/pseuds/AbelSephaos
Summary: Dying sucks, reincarnation sucks more. Want to know what sucks the most? Being forced to finish someone elses playthrough without so much as a tutorial.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 65





	1. Rebirth

Playing Blind

Chapter 1, Re:Birth

I do not own anything pertaining to either Naruto or The Gamer series.

《PB》

[YOU DIED]

I don't know how long I've been staring at the words floating in mid air before me, but it's probably been a mind numbingly long time. Well, I have no way of really knowing how long it's been, but it's been long enough for me to slowly start to forget things about myself that I feel I shouldn't be forgetting.

The words are familiar to me, of course, as I've seen them hundreds of times before in my life, I think, but never quite like this. 

[YOU DIED]

Apparently, I died. Not really sure how, considering the last thing I can actually remember was sitting down on my buddies couch after we finished moving his more valuable cars under his metal carport before those two storms building up in the gulf hit. One minute he is passing me a cold drink, the next there is a loud crash, then… this.

I died, and I'm probably never going to know how, or why, or if there is even a why to be asked. 

So, I resigned myself to this black void, with only the crimson letters constantly reminding me of my deceased status to keep me company. 

And then, after what feels like forever and a day, the words finally faded. 

The world around me shifts slightly, the pitch black lightening up a few shades until I could make out what appeared to be… a main menu? I've played enough video games to recognize a main menu when I see one, and wouldn't you know it, there one was.

Floating in front of me, menacingly. 

Why am I seeing the main menu for… The Game?

Did I just lose?

[THE GAME]

[NEW GAME]

[CONTINUE]

[OPTIONS]

The only screen that wasn't greyed out completely was the continue option, which I couldn't even select due to being what I assume is a completely disembodied spirit.

Eventually, the option to continue seemed to be chosen for me, as the words on the screen before me lit up and then the world shifted around me once more.

Save file after save file flashed before my eyes, the numbers increasing by single digits, then by the dozens, hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands until the game eventually settled on a file that wasn't completely greyed out.

[File # 999,999]

Nemui  
lvl:16  
Hidden Bamboo Grove, Grass Country  
Play Time: 16 years, 286 days, 21 hours and 2 minutes  
Last Played: 28 years, 301 days, 23 hours and 14 minutes ago

[Continue?]

[Y/N]

What the hell?

No, seriously, what the hell is this?

Nemui? Like, the word sleepy in Japanese? 

Why do I have a terrible feeling about this?

Studying the screen closely, I notice that the save file looks almost identical to one you would see from a Bethesda game, showing not only a screenshot of the environment around who I assume is this Nemui guy, but how long the file was active and even when the last time it was accessed.

Whoever this Nemui dude is, he sure looks like a try hard weeaboo. A quick glance shows that he has long, spiky red hair being held in a high ponytail, some kind of bandages wrapped around his eyes and a set of plain black kimono robes covering his modesty. 

I'm not really able to gather any more information, however, as I feel a sudden harsh tug behind my navel, and my mind begins to grow foggy.

Then, once more the world shifted to pitch black, and suddenly I felt more exhausted than ever before.

I slept, until I slept no more.

《PB》

[You have slept on the ground, HP and CP have been restored by half! Warning, (3) status ailments remaining!]

I awoke to the absolute strangest sensations in my head and body that I've ever felt. Beyond the fact that I could see a blue screen floating in my… 'vision', said 'vision' seemed to extend all around me in a circumference that I couldn't possibly measure accurately at the moment.

I could 'see' glowing blue birds flying overhead transposed over a backdrop of black and small insects highlighted in shades of azure and emerald that I didn't know existed. 

That strange feeling in my head was quickly turning into a migraine.

I bring a hand up, or I assume I do, and see a glowing silhouette outlined perfectly in white appear in my vision, colored in shades of blues and greens.

It was fascinating, but so disorienting that if I wasn't already laying down I probably would have collapsed.

The screen telling me that I'd slept on the ground remains in my vision, despite my attempts to swipe it away physically, until it fades when I start screaming 'dismiss' in my mind like a maniac.

Now that the screen is gone, let's see if the horrible feeling in my gut is correct.

'[Stats]'

Upon receiving the mental command, 'The Game' provides further evidence that my fears were well founded.

[Stats]

Name: Nemui  
Level: 16  
Race: Human  
Clan: [???]  
Class: [Ronin],[???],[???]  
HP: 5201/10,400 [+4/s]  
CP: 108/216 [+2/s]/[-10/5s]  
CC: 6%  
VIT: [-??]= 25  
END: [-??]= 21  
STR: [-??]= 6  
DEX: [-??]= 6  
INT: [-??]= 8  
WIS: [-??]= 8  
LUK: 20

Ryo: 100

SP Available: 0

It took me a while to figure out which direction was supposed to be directly in front of me, considering my vision has decided to do whatever the hell it's currently doing, but I was finally able to make heads or tails of whatever sort of nonsense was going on.

I've not only been shoved into an unfamiliar body without any input of my own, but someone, possibly myself, had already been well into their, uh, play through, before I arrived.

Beyond suddenly finding myself in a new body, of course, I see that I'm now a Gamer, however the hell that works? I can't say that's a good thing, despite the butterflies in my stomach telling me that it is.

For one, it's obvious to me that this Nemui fellow got absolutely shwacked, if his stats are anything to go by. If 'The Gamer' levels up, usually those levels come with a bonus five stat points per level to be distributed how 'The Gamer' sees fit. I'm not seeing seventy five points available for distribution, nor do I see said points spread out across the board, so to speak.

I know that Han Jihan, most likely the Original Gamer, was able to spend his acquired stat points as a currency in select situations, but what the hell kind of situation would burn through seventy five points across the board at once?

Secondly, I'm somewhere in the Elemental Nations, most likely, considering my location said 'Hidden Bamboo Grove, Grass Country' on the save file. 

You know that sinking feeling in your gut when you know something terrible is about to happen and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it? 

That super potent bowling ball in the gut feeling? 

Yeah, that killed the butterflies.

Don't 'Gamer's' usually start out with some kind of tutorial?

…

I have a feeling that someone has already played through the tutorial, and it wasn't me, obviously. 

Okay, let's try something else…

'[Status]'

Another screen appeared before me, this time showing me what appeared to be debuffs.

[Status]

[Juinjutsu: Vision(Forehead)] - [???]

[Juinjutsu: Limited Speech(Tongue)] - [???]

[Chakra Network - Crippled] - [65:22:15:05]

…

…

You've got to be kidding me! 

Okay, so I was right, I'm somehow not only in the Elemental Nations, meaning some kind of Naruto related dimension, but I've been hit with two forbidden seals and have had my chakra network absolutely shredded. 

The Juinjutsu on my tongue tells me that at some point, Nemui must have encountered Danzo, which is another reason for the paranoid feeling quickly blossoming in my chest.

Thinking back to my stats, it might also partially explain what I assume are the debuffs on my stats, but what about the constant drain on said remaining chakra?

The only way to figure that out would be checking out my skill menu, I guess.

'[Skills]'

[Skills]

[Passive] - [Gamer's Body] : [Grants a body that allows for the user to live their life like a game. After sleeping in a bed, fully restore HP/CP and cure all status ailments.] [lvl:MAX]

[Passive] - [Gamer's Mind] : [Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. The user is immune to all psychological ailments.] [lvl:MAX]

[???]

[???]

[???]

[???]

That's not good. No skills other than the Gamer set, then? What the hell is going on, here?

Hmm, how about perks?

'[Perks]'

[Perks]

[??? Lineage: Due to the nature of your Bloodline and Chakra, you have been blessed with a deep well of longevity. +20 base VIT, +20 base END, +3 VIT/+1 END per level, +20% exp towards all [Fuinjutsu] skills.]

[???]

[???]

[???]

I don't understand, just what the heck happened to this guy and why are his perks mostly missing? Is it because of the Juinjutsu? Or maybe the shredded Chakra Network? The only thing I can tell for sure is that based on the flavor text of the first perk, I am most likely an Uzumaki or am related to them closely enough to still have their increased longevity, at least.

[PLAYER INFO UPDATED!]

Uh, hello?

Game?

Anyone there? 

...

'[Stats]'

[Stats]

Name: Nemui  
Level: 16  
Race: Human  
Clan: [Uzumaki]  
Class: [Ronin],[???],[???]  
HP: 5441/10,400 [+4/s]  
CP: 108/216 [+2/s]/[-10/5s]  
CC: 6%  
VIT: [-??]= 25  
END: [-??]= 21  
STR: [-??]= 6  
DEX: [-??]= 6  
INT: [-??]= 8  
WIS: [-??]= 8  
LUK: 20

Ryo: 100

SP Available: 0

That confirms it, I suppose.

That's perfectly okay with me, of course, but holy jeez this is bizarre. 

Speaking of bizarre, how the hell am I seeing the world right now if my eyes are closed and bandaged up? Am I some kind of Kenshi ripoff?

After a few moments of watching the outline of bushes swaying in the wind behind me without being forced to turn my head, I determine that yes, I'm actually seeing the world with what I assume is my Minds Eye or something equally as supernatural. 

Hmm… wait, isn't Karin a Uzumaki? Didn't she have some sort of super sensor technique she used, the Eye of the Kaguya, Kagura or something?

[SKILL LIST UPDATED!]

…

…

This might take a while.

《PB》

So, I discovered that beyond [stats], [status] and [perks], [inventory] and [reputation] seem to call up my inventory and a menu of my reputation with the world around me, which should be pretty obvious. [Create party] and [options] worked as well, but these two functions are sort of useless to me right now, all things considered.

My [inventory] was absolutely empty save for a pouch filled with exactly one hundred coins, which I assume are Ryo.

My [Reputation], however, is what has brought me the most trepidation.

[Reputation]

[???] - [+200]

[???/???] - [+120]

[???/???] - [+50]

[???] - [+12]

[???/??] - [-1000]

[???/???] - [-1000]

I don't even know where to begin guessing who really liked me, sort of liked me and hated my guts, but I have a pretty strong feeling that I pissed in Danzo' cornflakes somehow considering the two juinjutsu currently debuffing me.

So, no Land of Fire until I can figure out if the other Nemui was a Ne agent or just enemies with the Third Hokage's Shadow. That's a bummer, because being in Konoha would make me feel a lot safer than not right now, if only due to partial familiarity of the people there.

Beyond figuring out the inventory and reputation systems that seemed to be attached to my newfound 'Gamer' abilities, I discovered that I was going to have to start from absolute scratch when it comes to my skills, which was just fine with me. While I may not have a choice about my initial distribution of stat points, that means I'll have greater control of my 'build', so to speak, in the near future.

That brings me to my next dilemma, which is figuring out what sort of skills I can create and which ones I will absolutely need to survive.

Most 'Gamers' I've read about, whether Han or not, seemed to really focus on INT and WIS for the first few dozen levels and then start bringing their physical stats up later through exercise and passive skills. The problem is that I have absolutely garbage stats and can barely lift a tree branch large enough to act as a club, let alone spare any Chakra unless I want to go fully blind.

'[Skills]'

[Skills]

[Passive] - [Gamer's Body] : [Grants a body that allows for the user to live the real world like a Game. After sleeping in a bed, fully restore HP/CP and cure all status ailments.] [lvl:MAX]

[Passive] - [Gamer's Mind] : [Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. The user is immune to all psychological ailments.] [lvl:MAX]

[Passive] - [(Lesser)Minds Eye of the Kagura] : [An Uzumaki Hijutsu which allows the user to sense the Chakra Signature of those around them utilizing their third eye. +5% CC, (-10CP/5s), <850m>] [lvl:MAX]

[Active] - [Meditation] : [Attain Tranquility. Increases HP/CP regen by 101% while the user is absolutely still.] [lvl:1] [12/100]

[Active] - [Kuji-Kiri] : [Meditate on the nine spiritual hand signs. Increases CP regen by 203% while the user is meditating.] [lvl:3] [130/400]

The first [skill] I created was [Meditation], followed quickly by the more specialized type of meditation, [Kuji-Kiri], which was just perfect for bringing my miniscule pool of Chakra back to full quickly. 

[(Lesser)Minds Eye of the Kagura], which I just call my third eye, uses just as much Chakra as I recover over a period of ten seconds. As long as I use the [Kuji-Kiri] technique often, I should be able to at least try to use my Chakra for more than my new form of 'sight'.

I'm having a hard time getting over the sheer nature of my new life, or old life, or whatever my current existence is supposed to be, but [Gamer's Mind] seems to actively prevent me from feeling anything other than absolute calm at any point, no matter how much I try to force myself to feel any other emotion.

I absolutely hate it, but it seems that even strong feelings of hatred get nerfed back into nothingness when I try to actively make myself feel such a thing. I'm left with nothing but calm acceptance, with only minor positive emotions such as happiness and enjoyment to slip through the gaps in [Gamer's Mind].

Ignoring the terrible not-dread that's been eating away at my gut since I sat down in the middle of the grove of bamboo I woke up in, I stand and stretch my back, even if my body did not require it. 

Placing one hand out before me, I begin to walk slowly around the grove, using my strange new form of vision to familiarize myself with what will likely remain my temporary home for a while until I'm able to raise my stats or get a better grasp on the world around me. 

Obviously I trip and stumble quite a bit at first, but eventually I'm able to sort of stop focusing on one area in particular and instead widen my inner gaze until I can see where I'm walking just as easily as I focus on my destination.

I eventually reach what I know is the edge of the grove of incredibly thick bamboo and place my right hand on a shoot, watching as carefully as my extremely wide sense of perception would allow as the green-blue energy of the plant tries and successfully blends with the oceanic blue Chakra that struggles to circulate in my hand.

Wait, what?

[PERK LIST UPDATED!]

Was Nemui a Sage already or something? I mean, whoever Nemui was before I took over had been around for sixteen something years, so if he was as familiar with the lore of the Naruto series as I was, then he would obviously know what Sage Mode was and thus pursue it relentlessly, yeah?

Assuming the person in control of Nemui was simply me in a previous life, then maybe not, as I have no way of knowing what the original knew and what he didn't know. I probably wouldn't have known as much about the Elemental Nations as I do now should Nemui have been a prior incarnation, since I learned what I know now in the life that came after this one.

Maybe?

Son of a bitch, I hate pondering Unknowable questions like this. Did I control Nemui previously and somehow rage-quit [The Game] midway through, somehow?

Hmm. Oh well, it's obvious I am not going to be receiving answers to my questions, so it's probably best to just… roll with it, I guess.

That is all I can do at this point, just roll with it.

Alright, let's see here.

'[Perks]'

[Perks]

[Uzumaki Lineage] : [Due to the nature of your Bloodline and Chakra, you have been granted a strong source of Vitality. +20 base VIT, +20 base END, +2 VIT/+1 END per level, +20% exp towards all [Fuinjutsu] skills.]

[One With Nature] : [Due to the tranquil nature of your Chakra, you are able to learn all [Sage] class skills at an accelerated rate. +20% exp towards all [Sage] skills, +15 base WIS, +5CP/s when in a dense natural environment, unlocks [Natural Sense].]

[???]

[???]

[STATS UPDATED!]

I think I'm starting to see a pattern here. Am I going to receive the [perks] and [skills] the previous Nemui had picked upon rediscovering them?

Only one way to check, I guess.

'[Stats]'

[Stats]

Name: Nemui  
Level: 16 [0/4,595]  
Race: Human  
Clan: [Uzumaki]  
Class: [Ronin],[Sage],[???]  
HP: 5645/10,400 [+4/s]  
CP: 216/216 [+7/s]/[-10/5s]  
CC: 6%  
VIT: [-??]= 25  
END: [-??]= 21  
STR: [-??]= 6  
DEX: [-??]= 6  
INT: [-??]= 8  
WIS: [-??]= 23  
LUK: 20

Ryo: 100

SP Available: 0

Ah, so I was right.

My initial class seems to have been [Ronin], followed by [Sage], and then blank. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume my third class is [Shinobi], then, but until I figure out a proper [Shinobi] skill, I have no way of proving it.

Wait, I think I faintly recall the hand signs for a fire style technique, grand fireball, but I also really don't want to push my luck at the moment and accidently kill myself again due to severe Chakra exhaustion, since I don't know the actual cost of the skill. Should I risk trying to recreate it?

You know what, I think I'll wait, I'm pretty sure I can think of a million things that could go wrong if I screw it up.

[Due to your wise decision, you have gained +1 WIS!]

Oh snap, that's… actually terrifying, but oddly satisfying.

Instant positive reinforcement and gratification is going to be the death of me, should Orochimaru or Danzo take too long to do it themselves.

Dismissing the thought of recreating the Uchiha's favorite fire technique, I instead focus on trying to understand the process of absorbing natural energy from the environment around me. The entire process is fascinating, and I think I'm actually able to 'feel' my Chakra, yet it still refuses to respond to my will in any meaningful way.

Gritting my teeth slightly in concentration, I continue to try to exercise my will over the energy source circulating in my body, yet it continues to elude me.

Huffing in not-irritation, since I technically didn't feel the emotion I was more or less forced to emulate at this point, I give up on trying to actually use my Chakra for now and instead begin to wander the area I find myself secluded in to try and get a better grasp on the massive amount of sensory data being dumped into my head by my seemingly permanently activated third eye.

Like, seriously, wasn't that more of an active technique? Why the hell is mine passive, to compensate for the Juinjutsu on my eyes? Why was it even active when I woke up, since it wasn't on my [skill] list yet?

I have this really odd feeling that the previous Numei really screwed the pooch somehow, and now I'm being forced to figure out the how and why.

The how of the matter is beyond my understanding. I don't know how 'Gamer's' usually come to be beyond the Will of the Planet, nor how they operate on a finer level. I've always enjoyed the concept, but in practice, how does 'Gaia' or whoever my administrator is actually turn someone into a 'Gamer'?

I have no way of knowing the how, now that I actually ponder it, thus I must focus on the why. Why did he break [The Game]? Why would anyone break a game? 

Anger, frustration, unbearable sadness, I can think of a few reasons.

Or boredom.

If… if Numei really was on his millionth life, I have no doubt in my mind that he was bored, or as bored as a 'Gamer' can get. How did he even lose to Orochimaru if he was really on his millionth life? Shouldn't he have had some sort of combat experience by that point?

Or does my mind get wiped after every playthrough?

If that was the case, how do I have access to my memories from my last life?

Maybe I'm just looking at it wrong, and I'm just the millionth Gamer, but then… why would I go back to a previous play through, if I could apply such a term to my apparent many lives?

The more I thought about it, the more I felt that dread from earlier return, so I forced myself to sit down and take a deep breath before distracting myself with my exploration.

I mean seriously, who has time for existential dread when I get to explore this super cool forest that… I honestly had no interest in, whatsoever.

In fact, my interest in being Numei was null.

I don't really have a choice in the matter, though, this is my life now.

I've been given everything I had possibly wanted in my teenage years, a decade too late to enjoy it. My old life is gone completely and now I'm some long haired, blind and selectively mute nobody with big enemies, in the middle of a forest that I can't possibly pretend to know previously existed.

Dandy.

All there is for me to do now is survive, I guess, because hot damn there's thousands of ways for me to die a horrible death here if I'm not on my toes. So, first things first, discovering a water source for bathing, drinking and fishing.

And there one is, about four hundred-ish feet south of my grove. This [(Lesser)Minds Eye of the Kagura] is already proving to be a decidedly handy way to 'see' the world, since all living things have some form of innate Chakra in this world, thus allowing me to not only see the living animals around me, but the environment as well.

I would much rather actually be able to, you know, see the world the normal way, but Nemui went and screwed that up for me, so here we are, using a ripoff inner Byakugan that I can't turn off to navigate to the river I 'saw' while tripping over my feet thanks to my extremely profound sense of depth perception. 

Everything about this experience is getting on my nerves, but I will prevail.

I pause mid-step to the river as an epiphany crosses my mind, bringing promethean rays of enlightenment to my previously dark mindset.

This is a chance to not only eventually do all the really cool stuff with Chakra that I've always speculated would be possible within the known Elemental Nations or whatever this world is called, but to actually better myself.

It's obvious that I'm no longer allowed to experience extreme bouts of emotion of any sort, possibly even what would be considered 'positive', so now I'll be forced to learn how to conduct myself in a rational and calm fashion, which isn't exactly a bad thing for a hot head like me.

Beyond bettering myself mentally and thus spiritually, the mere fact that I can quantify everything I would need to know about myself to show where my strengths and weaknesses lay is groundbreaking alone, as I can see a clear path to solving said issues.

I don't have to be limited to normal means of strengthening myself any longer. Hell, I can probably just ditch this dimension once I get strong enough if I play my cards right, maybe even go back home and be with my family again! How cool would that be?

Then again, with how the year twenty twenty is playing out, why the hell would I want to go back beyond seeing my brother, mother and aunt again?

Damn, I already miss them.

I'm completely alone for the first time in twenty something years, with no one but myself to depend on or share this newfound lease on life with, and only myself and Numei to blame for my perceived misfortune. I can't just call my little brother up to see if he has any ideas on what I should do, or warn my aunt that I won't be home to take care of her for the foreseeable future.

I never knew I could feel the pain of emotions without actually feeling the emotions themselves. I know for a fact that if [Gamer's Mind] wasn't muting my otherwise tumultuous spirit, I would likely have curled into a ball and started bawling my eyes out by now. 

This is going to take some time to come to grips with.

By the time I've rationalized my current situation in a way that wasn't completely negative while shoving my doubts and fears into my mental closet with the rest of my skeletons, I finally made it to the stream that was rather close to my grove.

[-4HP!]

[-10HP!]

I tripped over a stone that I did not see in my path, causing me to lose HP twice when I smashed my face into the large tree I was leaning against for balance, four and then ten. Negligible to say the least, as I regained said HP by the time I reached down to pluck the stone from the ground.

I couldn't tell you what type of stone it was or its colouration, since, you guessed it, I'm blind, but it seemed sharp enough in one spot to help me cut a piece of old bamboo into a spear to use for acquiring some lunch.

[SKILL CREATED!]

[(Amatuer) - Crafting] : [Utilizing tools and raw materials, the user can create new items and learn new recipes! Increases quality by rank, +1% crafting speed.] [lvl:1] [15/100]

[NEW ITEM CREATED!]

[Bamboo Spear]  
[Common]  
[--56---]  
[--EE---]  
[AR: +15]

Studying the bamboo spear and the screen that hovered over it, it was easy to come to the conclusion that not only did it have a stat requirement to wield, but it scaled with said stats as well. 

Since my stats start from VIT down, I'm going to assume that this means the spear requires five strength and six dexterity to wield, and it scales poorly with said stats. 

[AR: +15] must be attack rating, which means that it either adds fifteen to my existing five points in strength and six from dexterity, which I doubt, or the initial fifteen attack points will scale further upwards based on my strength and dexterity in the future, and that my current stats allow me to deal fifteen base damage before any further damage calculations are added. Critical damage better be a thing here is all I'm saying, because I'm aiming for the heads of my enemies unlike most [Shinobi] I can name.

Math is my absolute worst subject, so the chances of me grasping the formulas that make up my stats and my weapons stats quickly isn't very likely, but I guess I don't really need to understand it completely right off the bat.

What I do need to understand, is if I can create quests for myself, or if the system administrator will sense my intent and do it for me based on whatever tasks are assigned to me or I take for myself.

Concentrating on the task before me, which is to snab one of these fish and cook it for a quick lunch, I am finally rewarded with what I knew would eventually show itself.

[NEW QUEST CREATED!]

[Flippity Floppity, This Fish Is My Property!]

[Daily]

[Catch a fish to eat! The bigger the better, but don't be greedy! Remember, Nature and Nurture.]

[+250 exp, (?) fish]

[Accept Quest?]

[Y/N]

I easily accept the quest with a mental command of [Yes], which is to say that I just started screaming 'YES' in my head over and over until [The Game] finally heard me.

Readying my chosen weapon, I tracked one of the larger fish in the river not far from me and stabbed forward with far more grace than I should have based on my current dexterity rating, causing me to ponder if my body somehow had the muscle memories left over from the previous Nemui.

[SKILL CREATED!]

[Passive] - [Sōjutsu] : ['This is the spear that will pierce the heavens!', increases damage dealt by all [Spear] type weapons by 1%] [lvl:1] [20/100]

Well, I guess that answers that, maybe it's just my imagination.

The large fish slipped from my spear when I pulled it out of the water, but I was quick enough to snag it with my right hand before it could fall back into the river.

[QUEST COMPLETE!]

[Flippity Floppity, This Fish Is My Property!]

[23:59:52]

[+250 exp, +1 (m) River Fish]

The [Quest] seemed to innately know that I would only take one fish and was completed accordingly, so I dismissed the screen and instead remained focused on the quickly dying fish in my hands, watching in morbid fascination as the natural energy and Chakra alike bled from its body until I could only see it through the faint white outlines surrounding it and detailing it in my vision. 

Opening my inventory once more, which seems to have what I hope is an infinite amount of storage space, I placed the fish and my spear into two different storage spaces and dismissed the window into my hammer-space pocket dimension as quickly as it came.

I return to where I crafted my spear and once more grabbed the sharpened stone before storing it in my inventory as well, since I can always come back and hopefully craft an arsenal of bamboo spears and grind some levels in [crafting].

Before I start on that, however, first I should try to secure some shelter, make a bed roll and see if [Gamer's Body] will get rid of those Juinjutsu since I'll technically be sleeping in a bed and they're technically status ailments, so to speak, and look into unlocking some kind of skill related to Chakra Control.

[Due to coming up with a logical plan, you have gained +1 INT!]

Heck yeah, Game, glad we agree.

Honestly, I've got a lot to do and I have no idea how much time I can safely spend here without a way to defend myself, especially since I faintly remember something about Grass Country being notorious for their ANBU. Some kind of Hanya styled unit or something?

It's been forever and a day since I watched anything related to Naruto, especially since the series ended some eight or nine years prior to my death and my patience for the spoiled brat that was Boruto was nil. My knowledge of the series has basically rusted away until all I can remember are the important bits.

Like not pissing off Might Guy, Madara, Orochimaru, any of the Akatsuki members, stuff like that. Guy is absolutely number one on my list to not piss off, and I pity anyone who doesn't instinctively feel the same. 

If Nemui already has a bad reputation in these parts, and one of my no-no's is on the list of people that that currently hate me, it would be a good idea to have some sort of game plan to either protect this area from outsiders, or perhaps have an underground escape route secured using Earth Style techniques. 

Ugh, where to start, where to start…

First things first, I need to at least try to make some kind of shelter, even if I can't really see what I'm doing all that well with this crazy third eye skill. 

Stumbling my way through the thickets of monstrous sized bamboo, I make it back to my clearing and begin construction on a small a-frame hut tied in place with roughed up leaves from the larger bamboo shoots that I'd been forced to chop down and process the caveman way.

After a few hours of diligent work and two extra points in strength gained through smacking bamboo with my rock, I was able to step back and appreciate my work, which was only barely visible to me in the backdrop of glowing blues and greens.

What's odd is that I almost expected a skill from this, but do I really need one? I could always hardcore focus on unlocking Wood Release and just grow a house in the middle of nowhere, maybe… hopefully. 

Wood Release has got to be the most versatile Chakra nature you can learn or have, in my opinion, especially since I could survive basically until I die with it alone without being forced to ever venture far from my territory.

Food? I'd grow a fruit tree. Water? Water Release is needed for Wood Release, so I'm sure that would be one of the first bridges I burn in the near future. Shelter? I can grow a freaking house and design it however the heck I want, no money or permits needed. 

I could also just force-create new quests revolving around feeding the hungry and providing shelter for the hopeless, thus hopefully solving my experience issue without me being forced to resort to genociding innocent animals or less innocent bandits like other 'Gamer's' tend to do in this environment!

[Due to your logical and peaceful reasoning, you have gained +1 INT, +1 WIS!]

Oh man, just thinking about this is making me almost excited again. I've seriously got to figure out just what I can and can't do with my Chakra!

Wait… damn, that's right, my Chakra Network is screwed six ways to Sunday for the next sixty something days. Thanks, whoever jumped Nemui, I'm going to have to get revenge for delaying my new goals like this. Unless you're on the list, then I'll just ignore you until I can't.

Okay, fine. I can be patient, let's see what I can do rather than focus on what I can't.

Which means… hmm… I'll have to be creative here, let's see.

Since Chakra is composed of both physical and mental energies, and mixing natural energy with base Chakra makes Sage Chakra, can I just use the three energies by themselves without mixing them?

Since my life is apparently ruled by a 'Gamer' system now, surely that should be possible, right?

What sort of skills would even rely on singular types of energy, anyway? There's Youjutsu, I think, which is supposed to rely on spiritual energy alone. Then there's Ki, like they use in the Dragon Ball universe, which is purely physical energy. I could try spiritual techniques from Bleach as well, maybe, since Reitsu is supposed to be purely based on the soul, yeah?

Wait, how are mental and spiritual energies the same thing? That doesn't make a lot of sense, since the Soul is obviously independent of the Mind and Body based on what has happened to the other Nemui.

So, is Chakra actually just mental and physical energy being mixed? How does one access their spiritual energy, then?

Oh.

OH.

What about Touki? Isn't that supposed to be something people can use that is basically purely physical energy related? Or… no, wait, that doesn't sound right.

It's based on tapping into your life force, or vitality, and bringing it to the surface, usually applicable to Sage's alone.

Damn, I really don't want to start trying to mess around with Senjutsu stuff on day one of my bizarre new adventure, that just doesn't seem safe to play around with by my lonesome or at least without some kind of instruction.

Well… damn, fine, I think I'm just going to try to recreate Mana or something, since that's pretty safe to work with and doesn't rely on something like my Chakra Network, hopefully.

Since Mana is based on my intelligence and wisdom stats, hopefully I'll be able to start practicing with it right away.

So, how do I unlock Mana, if at all possible? It's based on mental energy, so meditation might do the trick?

Sitting down into the lotus position, I focus inward and proceed to ignore the world around me, trying to feel the energies within me as best I can with what limited knowledge I've accumulated. It is not nearly as easy as I thought it would be, but eventually I had a pretty good idea on at least how to manipulate what little Chakra I had.

[NEW SKILL CREATED!]

[Passive] - [Chakra Manipulation] : [Allows the user to mold and manipulate their Chakra for either internal or external abilities. +1% CC, +1CP/s.] [lvl:1] [1/100]

The moment the new skill popped up, my mind was bombarded with phantom knowledge that seemed to fill in the gaps of my actual understanding of Chakra, if only slightly.

I know for a fact I had no way of knowing that I could, for instance, individually manipulate my Yin and Yang energy and force them to blend at a quicker rate to increase my Chakra production at the cost of what I assume will be my HP, but now I do somehow.

Sweet.

[NEW SKILL CREATED!]

[Passive] - [Yin Energy Manipulation] : ['To reach Nirvana, first you must understand the heavens.', +1% strength of [Inton] skills, -1% CP cost of [Inton] Skills.] [lvl:1] [1/100]

[NEW SKILL CREATED!]

[Passive] - [Yang Energy Manipulation] : ['To reach Nirvana, first you must understand the Earth.', +1% strength of [Yoton] skills, -1% CP cost of [Yoton] skills.] [lvl:1] [5/100]

There we go, that's just what I was looking for!

Concentrating on the Yin portion of my Chakra, I begin to focus on funneling it to my hand, which is a monumental task in and of itself. Once I'm confident that I have enough energy in my hand, I try to shape it into a rough ball, which slowly becomes easier as I get used to the whisky feeling of Yin energy flowing through my hand. 

Once that step is done, I begin funneling raw Yang energy around the sphere, to give it a bit more oomph, should my running theory be correct.

Finally, I take aim at the distant thicket of bamboo across from my little ramshack hut, pray to any God capable of hearing my plea, and ignite the 'fuse' of Yang energy that would send the sphere downstream from me before destabilizing.

And…

[NEW SKILL CREATED!]

[Active] - [Inton: Kyuu] : [Creating a dense sphere of Yin energy and a thin shell of Yang energy, the user is able to prime it and send it downstream in an explosive fashion. (52) N.E. damage, <2x2x2>, -50CP.] [lvl:1] [25/100]

It exploded, sending the shrapnel of the bamboo that was misfortunate enough to be in my… well, dome of sight every which way in an oh so satisfying fashion.

I take a deep breath and feel the drain on my Chakra instantly, being actually far more than the said fifty points.

'[Stats]'

[Stats]

Name: Nemui  
Level: 16 [270/4,595]  
Race: Human  
Clan: [Uzumaki]  
Class: [Ronin],[Sage],[???]  
HP: 6245/10,400 [+4/s]  
CP: 160/266 [+8/s]/[-10/5s]  
CC: 7%  
VIT: [-??]= 25  
END: [-??]= 21  
STR: [-??]= 8  
DEX: [-??]= 6  
INT: [-??]= 10  
WIS: [-??]= 24  
LUK: 20

Ryo: 100

SP Available: 0

So, all of my active skills that have a CP cost are going to be nearly twice as expensive until I can get my Chakra control up to snuff.

That's a bummer, but since my Chakra regeneration rate is so high compared to my reserves, maybe I could make another passive skill that boosts my physical stats and try to keep it active indefinitely?

I'm not here to play fair, so any bit of extra survivability would be nice, even if it makes the ninjas and other Chakra users around me call bullshit.

So, back to that Touki idea now that my understanding of Yang energy is significantly better than it was ten minutes ago, I'm thinking that I don't need to use Senjutsu to pull the innate vital power of my body to the surface.

No, I just need to focus my strange new form of vision downwards at my own body and adjust what I'm doing with my Chakra until something sticks.

Remaining in the same lotus position I'd been holding for a few minutes now, I bring my hands together in the Kuji-Kiri hand sign for power, Rin, which seems to help me focus on the Yang energy present in my body easier than I could without it.

Seriously, where did the twelve zodiac hand signs come from, and why are they so different from the sacred nine and the elemental five from the esoteric schools of Japanese mysticism?

Food for thought later, I suppose, as I am instead forced to focus on minimizing my internal spiritual energy in favor of trying to maximize the physical energy flowing through my supposedly crippled Chakra Network.

Once I am confident that I'm not going to kill myself by throwing my recovering Chakra pool so out of balance, I begin to suffuse every organ, muscle and bone in my body with the thick, nearly white energy that barely qualified as Chakra. The process is actually painful, and I see that I start to lose HP quite rapidly at first, but that slows suddenly and stops as my body seems to adapt to the strain before the pressure stops all together.

[NEW SKILL CREATED!]

[Active] - [Yoton: Rin] : [By charging their body with heavily concentrated vital energy mixed minimally with mental energy, the user increases their strength and endurance by orders of magnitude. , -(200)CP/s.] [lvl:1] [1/100]

[PERK LIST UPDATED!]

[PERK LIST UPDATED!]

[NEW SKILL CREATED!]

[DANGER! YOU HAVE GAINED THE (SEVERE CHAKRA EXHAUSTION) DEBUFF!]

[-6294HP!]

Just as quickly as my grasp on the new skill came, so did severe exhaustion the likes of which I hadn't felt in years and a sharp pain in my chest and head unlike any other I've ever experienced. I instantly cut the flow of Chakra that was feeding the new skill, allowing my pools of internal energies to rebalance out as I activated the [Kuji-Kiri] skill to hopefully quickly recover from my severe Chakra exhaustion.

I ignored the new pop-ups in my periphery, if my strange, all engulfing sight provided by my inner eye could be described as peripheral vision in the first place, instead allowing the specialized meditation skill to guide my hands and return my Chakra reserves to acceptable levels before I attempted to experiment any further.

Finally, the sickening feeling that had engulfed my body eased up until I was lucid enough to bring my stat page up to check my health.

'[Stats]'

[Stats]

Name: Nemui  
Level: 16 [270/4,595]  
Race: Human  
Clan: [Uzumaki]  
Class: [Ronin],[Sage],[???]  
HP: 166/19,840 [+9/s]  
CP: 211/416 [+10/s]/[-10/5s]  
CC: 7%  
VIT: 40  
END: 31  
STR: 18  
DEX: 11  
INT: 10  
WIS: 24  
LUK: 20

Ryo: 100

SP Available: 0

I seriously almost died from that? Holy jeez… maybe I should be a bit more cautious, but damn if I wasn't right though.

But is being right worth being almost dead?

… For 'Gamer's, yes, but the fact that my life isn't a game and shouldn't be treated like one, despite the circumstances, remains the same. Sometimes risks are acceptable, so long as they are minimal and not quite life threatening.

This last bout of insanity was not an acceptable risk.

From now on, I'll think twice about playing around with my actual, tangible life force.

Now, why the hell are all of my stats besides intelligence, wisdom and luck suddenly higher? Does it have something to do with my perks?

'[Perks]'

[Perks]

[Uzumaki Lineage] : [Due to the nature of your Bloodline and Chakra, you have been granted a strong source of Vitality. +20 base VIT, +20 base END, +2 VIT/+1 END per level, +20% exp towards all [Fuinjutsu] skills.]

[One With Nature] : [Due to the peaceful nature of your Chakra, you are able to learn all [Sage] class skills at an accelerated rate. +20% exp towards all [Sage] skills, +15 base WIS, +5CP/s when in a dense natural environment, unlocks [Natural Sense].]

[Well of Life] : [Due to your deep connection with the Vital Source that dwells within all physical objects and beings, you now passively draw in and release ambient life energies as easily as your heart beats in your chest. +5HP/s, +2CP/s, +10 base VIT, +5 base END, unlocks [Vital Sense].]

[Fighting Spirit] : [By reaching deep within yourself and dragging your Vital Source to the surface, your body has broken past normal mortal limitations. +20% exp earned in combat, +20% chance of random enemy encounters, +5 base VIT, +5 base END, +10 base STR, +5 base DEX.

Oh, come on! 

Are you telling me that I could have created my own Perks or something? Did I have two free perk slots to fill, and that's why it looked like my stats were debuffed?

Not that I don't think the two newest perks aren't good or anything, but they definitely aren't what I would have picked if I knew I had a choice in the matter.

And why did gaining a fourth perk remove the debuffs from my stats? Did I start with one perk, and gain the ability to gain another every five levels? That would certainly seem to fit, considering that four perks at level sixteen doesn't quite add up.

Or do they require specific feats beyond the first, which is hereditary and something he would have picked during character creation?

That actually sounds plausible, so that's the theory I'll operate with until I can prove otherwise.

[Due to coming to a logical conclusion based on previous experiences, you have gained +1 INT, +1 WIS!]

Whatever, I guess it could be worse, considering that now my stats don't look like they belong to a blueberry. I wasn't actually going for a full melee build but I think I can work with this.

Hmm, based on my health and Chakra regeneration rates, I should be back to full health close to an hour from now, while my Chakra should only take a minute or two.

Yeah, that's not bad at all, this actually gives me just what I need to grind out my less costly skills without risking dying from Chakra exhaustion.

Damn, man, I could have sworn my thoughts were clearer than this. Is this a product of only having ten intelligence? Probably, but I have no way of knowing without having points to dump into my stats, so that's yet another issue I'll have to figure out later.

For now, I'm off to the grind.


	2. Chapter 2

Playing Blind

Chapter 2: 

I do not own anything pertaining to Naruto or The Gamer. 

[PB]

So I'm starting to think the other Nemui actually broke The Game somehow. 

For one, this system is stingy as absolute hell, as I've only been awarded one extra natural point in intelligence over the past three days of grinding experience in [crafting] by carving bamboo spears, while I've gained seven in strength and five in dexterity. By natural points, I mean stat points that I earn, rather than gain through spending. 

I'm pretty sure I've logic'd hard enough to gain at least ten intelligence points by now, but whatever. It might be a class thing, or it might be an Uzumaki thing, but I'll be damned if I didn't shore that weakness up the moment I could.

Another reason I'm thinking the other Nemui screwed the pooch is the fact that I was reduced to level one stats at level sixteen, if Nemui wasn't already a much higher level by the time whatever happened to him actually happened some twenty odd years ago. That, and starting with skills and perks that I had no hand in choosing. 

The only reason my vitality, endurance and wisdom are so much higher than my other stats is due to my ridiculous perk selections, and even that doesn't really make up for the lost seventy stat points that seem to have been practically deleted from the system.

I've never heard of a 'Gamer' being thrown into a life that was already in progress unless their power was awakened in their teenage years or after being reborn into a much younger body. You'd think I'd get some kind of memory dump, or wipe, or something, but I've been tossed in without so much as a heads up, it seems.

I've also never heard of a 'Gamer' starting with a hated reputation with two different people or groups, but since my information comes from fictional materials that may or may not be glimpses into the Multiverse, I'm basically ignorant on what the hell is going on with my reputation system.

I'm beginning to have doubts that it's Danzo that hates me, though, since the mark on my tongue looks nothing at all like the Juinjutsu most Ne agents receive at a young age. 

That, and I was able to say Danzo's name out loud without the Juinjutsu on my tongue reacting. It was a ballsy risk to take, since I'm pretty sure activating it would mess me up somehow, but once more my curiosity got the best of me.

This is good because that means Fire Country isn't completely off limits to me, but bad in that I have no clue who has it out for me.

Beyond grinding up to level twenty by having 'The Game' create quests for tasks like completing a thousand pushups, I've gained a ridiculous boost to my base Chakra levels once I slept on a shoddy bamboo pallet that acts as my bed and used Gamer's Body to fix my crippled Chakra Network.

'[Stats]'

[Stats]

Name: Nemui  
Level: 20 [420/6,727]  
Race: Human  
Clan: [Uzumaki]  
Class: [Ronin],[Sage],[???]  
HP: 33,600/33,600 [+9/s]  
CP: 6,152/6,152 [+10/s]/[-20/5s]  
CC: 16%  
VIT: 48  
END: 35  
STR: 25  
DEX: 16  
INT: 34  
WIS: 25  
LUK: 20

Ryo: 100

SP Available: 0

So it turns out that my health seems to be determined by my vitality times my endurance times my level, while my Chakra seems to be my vitality times my intelligence plus my level, in addition to what I gain passively through being an Uzumaki now.

Once my network was fully healed by sleeping on my bamboo mat, I gained an extra twenty five hundred chakra points flat out plus another hundred points per level thanks to the Uzumaki Lineage perk, which updated itself to reflect the additional stat bonuses once I awoke on my second day in the clearing. 

Beyond shoring up my most glaring weakness by dumping all twenty stat points I gained over the past four levels straight into intelligence, I've been working on trying to recreate skills, both active and passive, that will help keep me alive long enough to find a few skill books to hopefully fix my whole 'completely untrained civilian' issue.

I've been completely unsuccessful.

Focusing back down at the bamboo shoot that's been unlucky enough to become my test subject, I study the green-blue Chakra and the constituent energies that made it up and decide to try something different than reinforcement for the time being.

Instead of trying to force the bamboo to match my Chakra, I'm going to try to match my Chakra to the bamboo and see what that does for me.

Based on what I can see with the [(Lesser)Minds Eye of the Kaguya] as well as [Vital Sense], a skill that I unlocked when I nearly died creating [Yoton: Rin] that allows me to see and sense pure physical energy as easily as I do Chakra, most plants have more physical and natural energy than mental.

So, with five parts Yang, four parts Sei and one part Yin…

[NEW SKILL CREATED!]

[Passive] - [Haton Chakra Manipulation] : ['To reach Nirvana, first you must understand life.', +1% strength of [Haton] skills, -1% cost of [Haton] skills.] [lvl:1] [1/100]

That's cool, I guess, but what the hell is vegetation release supposed to be good for?

Haton isn't Mokuton, so I'm not going to be doing a happy dance until I can grow a house from nothing, but maybe I can grow a house out of vines instead of wood for the time being? That'd be radical.

Dismissing the screen hovering somewhere in front of my face with a continuous mental shout, I turn my attention to the dark green glow of the Chakra running through my body and then back to the same dark green glow of Chakra running through the bamboo before attempting yet another experiment that may or may not finally yield me a useful skill.

Reaching a hand out once more, I place my hand against the massive bamboo shoot and try to sync the Chakra in my hand with the Chakra in it's stalk. At first it seemed like I had gotten the mixture of Yin, Yang and Sei wrong, creating yet another useless nature transformation to grind, but soon something seems to snap into place and I was rewarded for my effort.

[NEW SKILL CREATED!]

[Active] - [Haton: Hatten] : ['Even from the smallest seedling can a mighty tree grow.', increases the growth rate of all [Plant] based lifeforms exponentially, -(50/<)CP/s.] [lvl:1] [16/100]

Okay, so that could actually end up one of my most used skills, to be honest. While Haton Chakra doesn't seem to act like Mokuton would in that it doesn't possess the innate ability to suppress Chakra, it's useful enough to warrant further investigation. 

Based on the Chakra cost, it seems like the more Chakra I use, the more the plant in question will grow, meaning I can just start dumping Chakra into a piece of bamboo and burn through my reserves a few times to level the skill quicker.

Well, that's interesting, but it doesn't really have a purpose in combat, at least not immediately.

Maybe if I had a few seeds of some poisonous flowers, mushrooms or thorned vines I could do something with this, but at the moment this seems like another bust.

Damn, just when I thought I was on to something.

So far, my attempts at unlocking the normal elemental manipulations, meaning fire, water, wind, lightning and earth, have all been fruitless. I just don't have a working example I can use as a guide outside of what I've been able to glean from the limited world around me already. Sticking my hand in the campfire I used to cook my fish did not grant me a pyromancy skill, and I'm not sticking my hand in the stream not far from my camp due to the native giant piranha population.

Hmm, maybe I could try manipulating the plant life without coming into contact with it?

Or, maybe feed my chakra into the ground and force it into the plants I want to control? Would that even work?

I don't see why it would hurt to try.

Sitting down into my preferred lotus position, I begin to start the five to four to one mixture of energies before feeding the large amount of Haton Chakra into the ground around me. I can see it just as easily as I feel it when I start to push the large shroud of green-blue Chakra into the root systems of the bamboo grove around me, massive in their depth and impossible to miss.

Once I'm sure I've got at least five stalks saturated with the Chakra, I begin mixing my Chakra with the Chakra already present within the bamboo until critical mass is reached. The moment there is more of my Chakra within the plant than not, I feel something click into place just as I had when making [Haton: Hatten].

[NEW SKILL CREATED!]

[Active] - [Haton: Han] : ['When a man tells you to get off his lawn, sometimes it's best to listen.', allows the user to partially or fully control all [Plant] type lifeforms after assuming control of their Chakra networks through their root systems. -25CP/s*(x)>{10}.] [lvl:1] [60/100]

Damn, that's a pretty steep cost right now since my Chakra Control is garbage, but that will be the first stat I max out before I leave this grove regardless, or at least to eighty percent if not perfect.

I hold the technique for a bit longer to allow it to reach level two before cutting the flow of Chakra. The great thing about skills is that I don't have to pre-mold the Chakra for the technique anymore, just activating it mentally seems to start the process for me. 

Technically, I think I can learn any Chakra technique that isn't bloodline exclusive with absolutely no problems thanks to whatever 'Gamer' system seems to be built in to me, while my control is more or less tied into the cost of my skills rather than their execution. I can think of a million ways to abuse this alone, since no element or style of Jutsu is beyond my ability to learn or create so long as I have the theoretical knowledge and can fulfill any prerequisite steps needed to create the more advanced skills. 

Jinton, Mokuton, nothing should be beyond whatever system now reigns supreme over my life as Nemui.

Hell, so long as certain skills don't require hand seals, I can basically spam them back to back without stopping, which is why I'm so determined to make as many sealless skills as I can.

Dropping the flow of Chakra from myself and the bamboo, I watch as the bamboo seems to retain my Chakra instead of it bleeding into the environment and causing the bamboo to wither and die like I thought it would. 

In fact, the five stalks of Bamboo I force fed my Chakra seem to be doing a little too good on the growing side, since I can literally see them growing before my third eye thanks to [Vital Sense] and [Natural Sense].

I still don't know how to refer to my vision at the moment, since I'm currently doing my best Kenshi impression, but seeing is believing and nothing can escape my weird not-vision now.

Okay, you can escape my vision by hiding approximately eight hundred and fifty one meters from me at any given point or beyond, but that's not something I'm going to go around telling people. 

Anyway, I don't think there should be any long term repercussions from force feeding the bamboo my Chakra, but if even bigger bamboo forests start growing around here now, I didn't jump start the process and I'll deny it until the day I die.

No, Kusa ninja, sir, I'm not responsible for your brand new bamboo version of the Forest of Death, I don't know why you'd assume such a thing.

No sir, I'm not paying a fine for providing the local Panda's the perfect food source to turn into house sized monsters of fibrous destruction. 

Well, that's just another little something to keep an eye on as I continue to chop down the bamboo forest around me to provide for my ever growing need for experience in [Crafting] for when I inevitably unlock a few recipes.

Hell, I could just start growing them with [Haton: Hatten], instead of having to travel so far from my ever growing hut made of pointed bamboo spears to double down on my experience. 

Seriously, they are perfectly good building materials beyond just being weapons, even if I wasn't going to remain in this clearing forever.

So, [Haton: Hatten] allows me to rapidly grow or regrow plant matter while [Haton: Han] allows me to control up to ten individual plants at a time at a steep cost of chakra until I can work on Seiton Chakra Mastery or gain perfect Chakra Control.

All Haton skills will automatically give me experience towards Haton Chakra Mastery, so eventually that won't be an issue. Instead, now I should go for something like weaponizing grass or leaves or something, like actual blades of grass sprouting from the ground and leaf shuriken able to be launched or guided at my enemies.

Basically, if someone is within the eight hundred and fifty meter range of my sight, which may or may not expand in the future, I can smack them around with a whomping willow should there be a tree within whomping range.

What a weird usage of terminology, what the hell is wrong with me?

Hmm, I guess that's something to work towards later. For now, I'm sort of sick of sitting around staring at sticks of bamboo. 

As a matter of fact, it's about time for my daily quest to go snag a fish for lunch.

[DAILY QUEST NOW AVAILABLE!]

[Flippity Floppity, This Fish Is My Property!]

[Daily]

[Catch a fish to eat! The bigger the better, but don't be greedy! Remember, Nature and Nurture.]

[+250 exp, (?) fish]

[Accept Quest?]

[Y/N]

With a quick mental chant of 'Yes' to get the system to hurry up, the quest is accepted and I grab my newest creation for snagging fish, which is just a rudimentary bamboo trident held together with rough foliage twisted to make twine. 

The outer two prongs are grooved to make a sort of hook that will prevent the fish from sliding off once impaled, since I don't really want to reach out and grab at a falling and very angry Piranha again like I did a few days back.

It isn't even worth mentioning its stats or scaling, it's just good for catching fish and that's about it.

Once I had properly selected my next meal and double checked to make sure my snack won't bite back, I gutted and scaled the fish on the opposite side of the river a few dozen feet away from shore, washed it a second time to make sure it's ready to be cooked and make my way back towards camp after securing my soon to be meal in my inventory.

Halfway through cooking said meal on my magically enhanced campfire thanks to the ever useful [Survivalism] and [Cooking] skills I gained a few days back, however, something bipedal and roughly human shaped entered my sensory range, turned in my direction despite the eight hundred meters or so between us and wouldn't you know it, starting running and jumping in my direction a lot like a ninja would.

Oh man, what the hell?

Okay, deep breaths, I already have a good idea on how to deal with them.

First, get them close to some bamboo, then, [Haton: Han] their ass in the back when they aren't looking. Hopefully I can get them in the spine or something if they're actually hostile.

For some reason, their Chakra doesn't really look or feel hostile, which is just a weird impression to get based on the way their Chakra looks, but I can't really explain it any better.

Within half a minute, the single Chakra source that doesn't look all that strong now that I'm getting a good look at it stops just outside my clearing, seemingly debating whether or not they want to proceed.

I make the choice for them, of course, because ignoring them might just get me killed somehow.

Regardless of the pretty letters on the screen telling me I'm a video game character, I'm still an untrained civilian with far more esoteric knowledge than practical skills. A particularly skilled child could kick my ass and all I could do is try to stab them with a bamboo spear or blast them with the Inton equivalent of a firecracker.

"You can come into my clearing, I wouldn't mind some company." I call out in a voice that isn't my own, a tone almost unfamiliar and frankly, not nearly deep enough for my liking.

I watched their Chakra fluctuate in a way that seems almost flustered, which is not a good emotion for a ninja, before they did as asked and stepped forward into what would have been my line of sight had I been limited to my eyes to see.

"You're actually still alive!" A distinctly female voice, a rather young voice at that, finally answers with what almost sounds like awe in her tone. "I mean, not that that's a bad thing, but how?"

Okay, cool, just hit me with some random nonsense why don't you. Who the hell is this and what are they talking about? Does this have to do with what happened to the other Nemui?

"Very carefully." I bluff my way forward, already out of my depth in this surprise conversation with a stranger, "Why are you so surprised?"

Thank you once again, [Gamer's Mind], sincerely. 

"Are you being serious? How many other people do you know that can say they nearly killed one of the freaking Sannin and be up and walking just days later?!" The young woman cries back in disbelief, the awe in her voice melting away in place of exasperation, "You were dying the last time I saw you, and if it wasn't for your Chakra reserves being only a fraction of what they used to be, I'd think it never even happened! You had grey matter leaking out of your ears!"

Ah! Now we're getting somewhere!

Apparently, other Nemui's trigger happy ass went and bit off way more than he could chew, ala Orochimaru! That makes so much freaking sense!

And if I'm in Kusa encountering Orochimaru somehow, I'm willing to bet my only 100 dollaridoos that it had something to do with Karin.

Who I am pretty sure I was talking to right now, coincidentally enough.

"I'm an Uzumaki, he doesn't have enough firepower to put one of us down for long." I answer as if these were the most natural words to pour from my lips, which they sort of where. "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, don't ya' know."

Uzumaki were a whole breed of stubborn in a league of their own, really hard to keep down when the going gets fun. Naruto and Kushina are key examples of this, since, you know, Kushina tanked a Kyuubi claw to the stomach after having it ripped out of her during childbirth and kept fighting to her dying breath. That is just an insane display of endurance, in my humble opinion, not even mentioning the nonsense that her son walked off. 

The Uzumaki are all monsters just one monkey tail and a transformation requiring intense screaming away from being Saiyans, and I couldn't have picked a better clan to be reborn into myself. 

Screw having fancy eyes, I have a fancy, ever evolving body with an even more broken ability stacked on top of it that puts the bullshit hack learning capabilities of the Sharingan to shame with casual ease. 

[+50 reputation with Uzumaki Karin!]

[Uzumaki Karin would like to become your apprentice!]

[Accept?]

[Y/N]

"I… please teach me, Master!" Karin drops into what looks like some sort of low bow, her knees and forehead touching the dirt.

What?

No. I most certainly don't want to take Karin as an apprentice, Game, what the hell?

But… at the same time, if I accepted, that would keep her within arms reach and thus away from Orochimaru by default, right? That would be a good thing, but wasn't she supposed to join him after the Chuunin exams? Is this world based on the Manga, the Anime or neither?

Ugh, that's not important right now, brain!

Now, my first issue here is that I have nothing to teach her beyond purely theoretical information that may or may not be applicable to her. 

At best I can sort of guide her along a certain path based on what I do know, but I have nothing concrete to even provide to her right now besides the hand seals for Kage Bunshin, Chidori, Gokakyu and Kuchiyose. I don't even know how to properly use said hand seals either, as when I use them, absolutely nothing happens to my Chakra.

In my direct past, I wasn't just a nerd, I was a super nerd. Part of my childhood was spent trying to memorize what little hand seal sequences that Kishimoto actually displayed in proper sequence to the point I could go through them in less than three seconds each. Weird flex, I know, but I wanted to be a ninja so bad it hurt once upon a time. This wasn't limited to the fictional sort either, hence how I know what Kuji-Kiri even is.

The fact that I might not be able to use proper Ninjutsu due to my class restrictions was going to bother me something fierce, but yet again this is unimportant right now.

Seriously, what is even happening here? Nemui, what did you get me into?

"What exactly do you expect to learn from me, Karin?" I prod, hoping to stall a bit longer to mull the decision over, "I'm not a ninja, if you couldn't tell."

"What? You aren't? But… well, I guess it doesn't matter what you call yourself, I just want to be strong like you, that way I can send the next creep like him running without…" Karin starts off strongly, only to trail off in the end as if remembering something that still shook her now.

Yeah, I imagine any meeting with Orochimaru would have that sort of effect, at least as he is now.

"Are you sure this is what you want? You don't even know who I am, do you." This last bit was more of a statement than a question, to see just how much she knew of Nemui and how much I can get away with as far as having different personalities goes. 

Now that I think about it, I could explain away my lack of memory and skills to pass on based on the fact she mentioned that the other Nemui had his brain partially liquified, since he was leaking grey matter from his ears when she last saw him. Partial memory loss is easy to bluff with a brain injury like that.

The fact that said brain injury didn't immediately kill the other Nemui is just now registering, and holy damn was he made of durable stuff. How does one actually survive partial brain liquefaction?

I mean, so long as he had actual health points left, any Gamer should be able to survive otherwise fatal wounds thanks to [Gamers Body], but still.

Yeah, having a partially liquified brain sounds like a winning excuse on my ignorance if I've ever heard one.

Karin seems to mull over my comment while I nonchalantly come up with a believable excuse about my ignorance on all things combat related before nodding decisively, taking scant seconds to make her decision.

"I may not know who you are, but I can see your Chakra as easily as you can see mine, and we both know there is no way you're a monster like Orochimaru. That, and you're an Uzumaki, and that… well."

She doesn't seem to want to finish her sentence for some reason, but I have a pretty good idea of what she wanted to say.

"Makes us family, huh?" I fill in the blanks, knowing just enough of her backstory to guess that her mother is probably dead already, leaving Karin to fend for herself. "Alright, you know what? Sure. It's not like I have anything better to do with my life anyway."

'[Accept]'

[APPRENTICE GAINED!]

[+50 reputation with Uzumaki Karin!]

[REPUTATIONS UPDATED!]

That's it? No other system tied in like my inventory or status pages?

Cool, no fuss, no muss, that makes things easier.

"Yes! Yes! Thank you, I promise you won't regret this!" Karin instantly springs up from her kneeling position and starts doing a happy jig before seemingly contemplating trying to hug me, based on what little of her body language I can distinguish from the twisting of her Chakra Network.

Then she seems to remember something, as she reaches behind her back and withdraws what looks like a tube of some sort.

Wait, that's not a tube, that's… a scroll? It looks like one, glowing script that I'm positive are seals layered in a way that tells me it's rolled up and all.

Carefully, she unrolls the scroll and places her hand on the character in the middle of each seal before gently pushing her Chakra into them to retrieve whatever was stowed away.

"Here, these belong to you. If you weren't around anymore, I was going to keep them and use them myself, but since you're here…" she trails off, as if she doesn't wish to part with the objects in her hands before finally relenting.

[Mask] - [Kamen no Tsuki-Usagi]  
[Super Rare]  
[20/20/0/0/20/20/0]  
[C/C/-/-/B/B/-]  
[DR+50, +[Spirit Sense](-10CP/5s)]

[Sword - Wakizashi] - [Shiohi]  
[Epic]  
[0/0/16/70/20/0/0]  
[-/-/C/A/B/-/-]  
[AR+102]

I allow her to hand me the two items without so much as a peep, my mind working a million miles a minute as I studied them as best I could with my third eye.

I'm sure I'd stare at them all night, as a matter of fact, so I force myself to put both items away for later analysis by setting them off to the side on the ground next to me.

"Orochimaru took your other sword, I'm sorry I wasn't able to stop him…" Karin trails off, taking my silence for disappointment.

Well now that she tells me ol' snake face has one of Nemui's swords, which might also be epic quality, I am disappointed, but not with her.

"I'm thankful for your help, Karin. I'm sure I'll get it back eventually, one way or another." I answer in a smooth near monotone, [Gamer's Mind] helping me out far more than I thought possible. "Next time, however… no mask or sword is worth your life, just run if you think I'm about to lose against a more powerful opponent."

[+25 reputation with Uzumaki Karin!]

This girl… damn, she must be starved for positive reinforcement.

Well, looks like my new mission in life is to make this girl one happy Uzumaki, because damn if her life hasn't been tragic enough.

Despite her not being the strongest in this world filled to the brim with walking cataclysms, she is definitely cunning and has a better sensory range than me if my memory is correct, thus useful in my overarching goal of surviving until I can grow into my own. I'll at least do my best to make sure she learns and trains enough to be a powerhouse in her own right, though, for her efforts. 

It's only fair.

"Thank you, Master. It's the least I can do, since you saved me from being kidnapped and all." Karin trails off with a small sheepish laugh, a hand coming up to scratch at her cheek lightly as some kind of nervous tick. "I really don't like the way he was looking at me…"

"I'd do it again, too. Screw that guy, we Uzumaki have to stick together, especially since most of the world is out to kill us or use us." I shrug lightly before standing and motioning for her to do the same. "Alright, Karin, let's both properly introduce ourselves so I can get a feel on how to proceed."

"Alright, sure. What do you want to know?" Karin rises quickly from her kneeling position, brushing her knees off quickly before straightening her back.

"I'll start and you follow my example. My name is Nemui and I enjoy learning new things, exploring and experimenting with Chakra. I'm adequate at defending myself, but I'm a far cry from where I was before… that fight," I lamely trail off for a second, not knowing how to reference other Nemui's conflict with Orochimaru. "My dream for the future… is to reunite the Uzumaki clan and make sure we're so strong that something like the fall of Uzushio never happens again."

"Uzushio?" Karin questions, the word sounding unfamiliar on her lips, causing me to frown slightly but otherwise remain ambivalent thanks to [Gamer's Mind]. "My name is Karin, and I like collecting new perfumes and being around people with nice Chakra, like yours. I'm still a Genin, so I'm not very strong yet, but under your tutelage I'm sure I'll grow super strong in no time! I… don't really have a dream right now, but meeting more Uzumaki sounds as good of a goal as any, so I'll help you do that!"

[NEW QUEST CREATED!]

[One Uzumaki To Rule Them All!]

[Legends often speak of the famed redheads of Uzushio and how their innate vitality and prowess with both blade and seal left them the target of three hidden villages. It is time for the Uzumaki to come together once more to brave the coming storm, as a family that survives together, thrives together.]

[Conditions - (?), (?), (?)]

[+1,000,000 exp, (?), ]

[Accept?]

[Y/N]

'[Yes]'

The quest is accepted much quicker now that I realize I can issue commands the same way as bringing up different menus, because one million freaking experience for something I planned on doing anyway was brilliant.

I'm not sure why it took so long to create the quest for uniting the Uzumaki, but I'm glad that's a thing, as that seems like a generally safe goal to pursue. I may not be a real Uzumaki, but no one but me will ever know that, so does it matter?

"Welcome to the family, Karin. We don't really have any special shirts or jackets right now, but by the time we find a few more I'll have something worked out." I say after a few moments of silence, mostly as a joke. "Now that we have a better understanding of one another, I'd like to know a few things about what you're capable of to have a better idea on where to start."

"Oh! Yeah, that makes sense! Well, uh.. I know Henge, Kawarimi, Bunshin and Shosen no jutsu. I'm still not allowed in the section of Kusa's library that has offensive jutsu higher than D rank, but my Jonin Commander promised me a new water jutsu a few days ago so I'll have something new to practice soon!" Karin rattles off quickly, sounding quite proud of herself all the while.

"Oh? That's very impressive, Shosen requires very good control. I take it you have practiced surface and water walking?" I ask to try and gauge her control, since I currently lack the [Observe] skill that would have allowed me to quantify her stats.

"Water walking? I've been practicing surface walking for a few weeks and I think I've about mastered it, but now I know what's next. Thanks, Master!" Karin's Chakra fluctuates in a way that I now know is either happiness or contentment, both of which are good. "Is it sort of the same as surface walking?"

"Sort of, you have to adjust your Chakra to account for current, ripples, stuff like that. You… have a strong sensory skill like mine, right?" I question, even if I know that she does. "I'm pretty sure you're concentrating Chakra to your pineal gland right now, but yours seems far… brighter than mine, for lack of a better word."

"Wait, you can do that too?! I thought you were… well, I guess you are blind, but having my Minds Eye of the Kagura must make being blind almost a non-issue, huh?" Karin questions more than states, her Chakra going from shocked to something similar to curious, or inquisitive. "How far can you sense, anyway? And is this an Uzumaki thing, then? I thought I was the only one who could do this, that's so cool!"

Damn, wasn't I trying to not tell anyone how far I can sense?

"I can see up to about seven or eight hundred meters or so out, but what I lack in distance I make up for in precision." I answer eventually with a slight huff. "Do you see only Chakra?"

"Yes, is there something else I'm supposed to be seeing?" Karin seems confused by the question, which I guess makes sense in a way, considering she is still pretty young and most likely hasn't been introduced to very much esoteric knowledge, if any.

"Well, yes and no. There is Yang energy, from the body, and Yin energy, from the mind. Combined together, this is Chakra, but there is another energy that very few can sense and even fewer can learn to safely manipulate." I say, bringing my left hand up to demonstrate my meaning. "Here, I'll show you what Yoton Chakra looks like as an example, which is Chakra that has been mixed in a nine to one ratio with Yang and Yin energy."

Concentrating on my fingertips, I begin forcing my chakra to shift from a five to five ratio of Yang and Yin to a nine to one, causing my naturally ocean colored Chakra to shift to a bright white.

"This is what is known to very few practitioners as Yoton Chakra, not to be mistaken with the other Yoton, which is related to lava." I explain, knowing that I have her full attention due to the way her head was tracking my hand. "I'm still getting the hang of this myself, but so far I know that Yoton Jutsu are all related to the body, vitality, defense, things of that nature. Observe carefully."

'[Yoton: Rin]!'

I feel my body once more reach a level of performance that I couldn't even function at, preventing me from so much as taking a single step or moving my arms to prevent me from making a fool of myself.

I cut the skill after five seconds, as the cost was still far too much for me to maintain for long. A quick check of my stats confirms that five seconds was enough to burn through a sixteenth of my reserves, which is ridiculous considering I'm a freaking Uzumaki.

"I can't maintain it for long without burning through my reserves completely, but I've got a nice surprise for that creepy snake next time I see him." I say after taking a deep breath and wiping my brow with my potentially stained robes.

I'm freaking blind, how the hell am I supposed to know what I'm wearing looks like? They at least don't smell bad, as I've cleaned them in the river a few times, but still.

Did other Nemui seriously have to dress like an old school Samurai? I don't freaking know how to tie this damn belt he was wearing properly! I'm sure I look ridiculous, now that I'm thinking about it.

Karin remains quiet for a moment, her mouth moving silently in a way that I can only see thanks to the movement of the Chakra pathways in her jaw.

"One day, I'm sure you'll be the proud owner of this bad ass technique too, Karin, since our Chakra is exceptionally dense with Yang energy already as Uzumaki." I say after a few more moments, unsure of why she had gone so silent all of the sudden.

"Are you serious?! That looked so cool! What was that? How does it work?!" Karin was practically in my face before I could raise my hands to stop her, making me realize that the difference in dexterity points actually does matter in terms of movement speed and response time. 

Jeez this chick is fast! Are all ninjas this freaking speedy?

I'm going to die a quick death if I don't start pumping up my dexterity stat, I see.

"Yes, I'm sure, but not for at least a few years to let your coils finish growing. It's basically a kinjutsu in and of itself because you'll kill yourself if you don't know exactly what you're doing, now that I think about it." I stop to consider the implications of the information I'm giving her but continue once I convince myself she will be smart about this. "Whatever, we have a powerful regeneration factor naturally so that's what makes this basically a secret Uzumaki jutsu, like our third eye sensory skill." 

"So wait, what all are we able to do? Do we have a Kekkai Genkai or something?" Karin decides to focus more on my mentioning of our healing factor than the fact that the Jutsu I'll teach her in a few years is a Kinjutsu. 

Damn, just how little does she know about the Uzumaki?

"Just what do you know about the Uzumaki clan, Karin?" I question almost word for word what I was thinking, since the only way to find out is to ask.

"Uh, we apparently all have red hair, strong bodies, a lot of chakra and a proclivity towards sensory jutsu?" She asks more than states once more, causing me to frown slightly before it is wiped away by my active use of Gamer's Mind.

Damn, so basically only what I've told her. Surely Kusa should know a little something something about the Uzumaki, since they were allied with Konoha and thus Uzushio, right?

Or did Kusa not align itself with Konoha until after the destruction of Uzushio?

"Well, for one, we are cousins with the Senju. We all descend directly from a pair of brothers named Hagoromo and Hamura, who were the sons of a woman named Kaguya. Hagoromo is better known as the Sage of Six Paths, in case you didn't know." I start, causing Karin's Chakra to fluctuate wildly in shock, "We once controlled an island nation called Uzushio, and our village there was Uzushiogakure. Iwa, Kiri and Kumo teamed up and wiped our village out back during the second war while our ally, Konoha, was otherwise tied up on the front line with Kumo, if I recall correctly."

I pause to let her absorb what I've mentioned so far, judging that she is feeling conflicted over what she has learned, but I press on regardless.

"We are all innately good at Fuinjutsu, from what I know of the Uzumaki who would enter the Bingo Books, like Kushina and Mito of Konoha. Beyond sealing, quite a few of us are good at Kenjutsu, hence my blade, and even have another hidden technique like the mind's eye known as the adamantine sealing chains, which can suppress even the Chakra of a Biju." I finish explaining my rather limited but still not insignificant knowledge of the lore behind the Uzumaki, some of which I gleaned from the quest description given to reunite the clan.

"Wow…" Karin whispers nearly breathlessly, her Chakra fluctuating in a way that seemed surprised and excited at the same time, "I… never knew there was so much history behind my… our family." 

I nod but say nothing else, as I'm not sure what else there is to say.

"Master, I… thank you for telling me this and not treating me like I'm some unwanted stepchild like…" the younger redhead is awfully wishy washy with her emotions, but I guess that's puberty and a distinct lack of Gamer's Mind for you.

"Karin, you have been trained to be a shinobi. To treat you like a child would be the height of foolishness, and an insult to your intelligence." I wave her words off as to not seem too nice, or perhaps because I don't really deserve them, "now, I wasn't really expecting a visitor or to gain an apprentice so I don't really have a lesson plan ready for you right off the top of my head, but if you want to hang out for a bit and practice your control, feel free to practice trying to walk on water at the stream a few hundred feet south of here. Watch out for the Piranhas though, they're pretty mean."

"Oh, alright, I'll do that. What will you be working on?" Karin questions, having already figured that I would be working on something as well, "I mean, you don't have to tell me or anything, I'm just curious is all."

"No worries, I'm not really doing anything I'd mind you seeing I guess. Right now I'm trying to make a… Jutsu, I guess, that creates a hard shell of Yoton Chakra around a piece of bamboo." I demonstrate my grabbing one of the many discarded bamboo spears that littered the ground around me before flooding it with Yoton Chakra, which I'm becoming better and better at working with by each use at a rate I'm sure is due to me being a 'Gamer'.

Karin doesn't say anything at first, seemingly studying what I was doing with her own Minds Eye of the Kagura before she finally speaks up. "Have you tried, I dunno, trying to make it more solid, rather than just letting it flow like that?"

I don't verbally answer, instead trying to visualize the Yoton Chakra becoming more solid like and feeding even more energy into the technique before I was finally rewarded for my efforts.

[NEW SKILL CREATED!]

[Active] - [Yoton: Kyoka Suru] - ['A true Master of the art can kill armed only with a blade of grass.', DR/AR+51, -25CP/s.] [lvl:1] [12/100]

"Karin, you're a genius!" I say excitedly before turning and stabbing the spear into the ground as hard as I can, causing it to easily sink up to my hands from the force in the blow alone. 

I draw it from the ground as easily as it sank in before inspecting it as closely as a blind man can.

Not a splinter out of place, and I know I had exerted enough force behind that thrust to destroy this spear with even normal Chakra Reinforcement up and running full blast.

This is just what I needed, and while the cost is pretty crazy right now, it'll only go down in the future when my control goes up and my mastery of Yoton Chakra grows.

"Well, not to brag or anything but I am pretty smart for my age." Karin sounds awfully smug for having deduced the correct way of making this illusive skill work, which I can't really fault her for.

I'll make her a master of esoteric theory in no time.


	3. Chapter 3

Playing Blind

Chapter 3,

I do not own anything pertaining to either Naruto or The Gamer.

[PB]

It took about a week for Karin and I to settle into a routine that was both comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time.

Comfortable, because it was good to have someone to bounce ideas around with as I attempted to stumble my way through creating skills that would help keep the two of us both alive for the foreseeable future, but uncomfortable because Karin decided to build her own little bamboo hut next to mine and move all of her worldly possessions into my clearing.

It's not like I minded, but it was difficult to explain why I needed to cut down and sharpen two thousand and some odd number of spears or even where I was putting them afterwards when I spent time grinding my [Crafting] skill at night. 

She seemed to quickly grow used to my unwillingness to explain, though, after repeatedly telling her 'because' and 'you don't want to know'.

I wasn't able to really recreate anything from my rough memories of skills that belonged to other worlds than the one I occupied now, but I think I'm close to making a breakthrough with this world's equivalent of spiritual pressure.

I don't really want to go around blasting people with killing intent, as I'm not naturally a killer like Karin is shaping up to be, but I can't deny that having a widespread skill that causes weaker beings to freeze in fear or due to a feeling of intense weight on their body would be useful, like Kanashibari or whatever it was called but useful against multiple opponents. 

It's just a matter of figuring out how to project my Yin energy into the air and applying the concept of weight to it, right? Or do I just bring my presence out alone to the surface sort of like how Touki is supposed to function?

Yeah, I totally screwed up when I suffused my body with Yoton Chakra, as that's the exact opposite of what I was supposed to be doing to recreate Touki, but I blame my previously lower intelligence stat for that particular muck up.

Now, how the hell did Tobirama do it?

Whatever, I'm sure I'll figure it out later, there are more important skills to be focusing on first anyway.

Beyond attempting to create a new area of effect skill from scratch that mimics an already existing and likely superior technique, the only other useful skill I was able to create is [Observe], freaking finally.

It turns out I just wasn't trying hard enough.

'[Observe]'

Name: Uzumaki Karin  
Level: 13  
Race: Human  
Class: [Shinobi]  
HP: 9,424/15,444  
CP: 2,632/5,744  
CC: 78%  
VIT: 36  
END: 33  
STR: 18  
DEX: 52  
INT: 54  
WIS: 20  
LUK: 12  
Rep: +400 

[Uzumaki Karin is a Genin of Kusagakure and the apprentice of Uzumaki Nemui. Her mother recently passed away due to overuse of her innate Uzumaki vitality at the hands of Kusagakure, causing her to cling to Nemui as her only remaining family member, no matter how distant the relation.]

I have to say, it's pretty sad that a fourteen year old has more intelligence points than me, but I think it's fitting considering her personality and skill set. 

The less said about my opinion of Kusa as of these past few days of seeing her return to my clearing with only half of her health remaining, the better. [Gamer's Mind] doesn't let me get mad, but I can still severely dislike them and that's good enough for me.

[Observe] was my highest leveled skill now, sitting at a nice level thirty two after I used the skill on every single piece of bamboo in a four hundred foot radius south of my clearing over the past few nights out of boredom while Karin was sleeping while I was practicing surface walking.

It was probably one of the most monotonous tasks I've ever assigned myself, but the quest created through my determination to see it done netted me an entire level's worth of experience, so it was a struggle well worth the effort. 

Thankfully, it seems that control exercises max out at level twenty, granting me a whole twenty percent towards my overall control per exercise, which is always a welcomed addition. 

Water walking was next on the list to be completed, which had put me just shy of fifty percent control of my Chakra when finally mastered. Now I've got a neat party trick to show the religious folk if I ever make it back home, though I highly doubt it would be well received.

To progress further, though, I had to get creative and came up with another exercise on the fly to put me one step closer on my path to gain perfect control of my Chakra. 

Another random bout of brilliance would be much appreciated to help out after the bullshit I went through while creating 'air walking', which is at level fifteen already, because neither Karin nor I have any clue what might come next. 

Let me tell you, holy hell does forcing random atmospheric gasses into a semi-solid state beneath your feet or body burn through Chakra, but it's worth it. The trick is to force the random gasses close enough together to cling to like water walking, but not actually tight enough to compress them into a liquid. 

It's even more worth it due to Karin's expression when I casually strolled into her little training field like I was walking on the sunshine itself and proceeded to laugh in her face with my hands on my hips. 

It was probably due to the fact that I did so upside down that it was so satisfying, since there was no limit to the direction or position I could cling to unlike other forms of surface walking. Have you ever seen a person roll across the sky like there was some sort of invisible surface that you just couldn't see? Or slide around like they're skating on air?

My combat potential has jumped through the roof ever since successfully creating [Air Walking]. The skill may as well double as a form of flight when I max it out due to my ability to create platforms of all shapes and sizes to suit my needs, including an ever-present runway that I can slide across on my belly like a penguin, or a jet being flung from a naval aircraft carrier. 

Karin told me it couldn't be done and I proved her wrong. Nothing could possibly be more rewarding than proving a person with more points in intelligence than me wrong, except the skill itself maybe.

'[Stats]'

[Stats]

Name: Nemui  
Level: 25 [883/11,918]  
Race: Human  
Clan: [Uzumaki]  
Class: [Ronin],[Sage],[???]  
HP: 63,000/63,000 [+9/s]  
CP: 7,268/7,268 [+10/s]/[-20/5s]  
CC: 62%  
VIT: 63  
END: 40  
STR: 37  
DEX: 22  
INT: 36  
WIS: 28  
LUK: 20

Ryo: 100

SP Available: 25

I'm pretty comfortable now that I've reached sixty three thousand health points, since I feel that should put me in the ballpark of Chunin or Jonin level vitality. I think I somehow gain an extra multiplicative factor through my level due to being an Uzumaki, but nothing on the perk listing states that as fact so I can't be positive. 

It also helped my inner paranoia when I gained the skill [Second Wind] upon hitting fifty points in vitality, which does exactly as the name implies. 

Once per day, if my health ever hits zero, I will automatically heal back up to ten percent of my health without actually, you know, dying. This is an absolutely broken ability and I almost pity the first idiot to think he scored a killing blow on me, but then I remembered that Izanagi is a thing around these parts and quit feeling bad instantly. 

A free Izanagi a day with limited health return was nothing to sneeze at, especially since I don't have to sacrifice one of my ocular organs to utilize it, and I thanked 'The Game' profusely for giving me such a blessing.

I'm still completely untrained as far as combat goes since I'm not going to try fighting an actual [Shinobi] with my meager skills in Judo, Taekwondo and Aikido, but I have a plan for that.

Once I get an actual sword style under my belt, hopefully I can take advantage of the 'Gamer' system empowering me and power level my skills until I reach a high enough proficiency in close, mid and long ranged combat to better survive the inevitable shitstorm that is the next four years of my life. Beyond just combat skills, though, I'm going to need a whole arsenal of supplementary skills to bridge the gap between myself and the near godly levels I can expect from folks like Madara and Obito.

Between the Akatsuki, Orochimaru, Danzo and the rest of the less powerful adversaries that I know are still moving about at this time, I'm pretty worried about staying alive until the battle with Kaguya and the reintroduction of the Otsutsuki clan. I wasn't scared, as I don't actually feel fear thanks to [Gamer's Mind], but the thoughts circling my mind constantly that usually would have resulted in feeling said emotion remain nonetheless. 

Logically, I would get absolutely bent by every single person on my long list of people that either needed to die or be detained. To mitigate this, I've made a list of skills in my head that are absolutely mandatory for me to recreate and just who said skills are to be used against.

So far, my list consists of recreating some sort of flying ability, learning and maxing out Fuinjutsu, unlocking the Adamantine Sealing Chains just in case I have to deal with a Biju and getting really, really good at Kenjutsu, Taijutsu and Iryojutsu. Hell, I'm honestly tempted to pull my best Orochimaru impression and see if it's possible to artificially give myself a slew of Kekkai Genkai while using the [System] and [Gamer's Body] to keep me from dying outright. 

A few of the more useful bloodline limits are out of my reach until I can unseal my eyes, but having a nuke up my sleeve like crystal release or a bit of that big tree energy that Hashirama cells would give me would honestly help more than it hinders me at this point.

I'm not even close to checking off a single technique off my to-learn list, obviously, besides maybe flight, and it's not like I'm actually intelligent enough to understand how to even go about modifying my body on a cellular level, but I have a feeling it's only a matter of when and not if.

In the meantime, I've started to wander the bamboo forest at night while Karin rests when not working out rigorously to increase my physical stats as quickly as I can or grinding experience in [Crafting], as it not only allows me to get away from my clearing for a bit to unwind but has also allowed me to discover quite a few different trees and plants that occur naturally in Kusa that I can't find anywhere else according to Karin.

On that note, it turns out that having the ability to promote the growth rate of plants using [Haton: Han] includes seeds as well, allowing me to grow an apple tree in my clearing that will probably never run out of apples due to the amount of Chakra I put into it. 

Seriously, I put close to two hundred thousand points of Chakra into it over the course of a few hours so I could power level [Kuji-Kiri] to level twenty three, which increases my Chakra recovery rate by two hundred and twenty four percent, meaning it nearly triples my already powerful recovery. 

Thirty two Chakra Points a second was quite a bit, since that will refill my reserves in two or three minutes after total expenditure.

Did I abuse this as well? Yes I did. That's why I have close to a thousand pearl colored apples in my inventory that are quite possibly the tastiest pieces of fruit that I've ever eaten. 

The boost in Chakra regeneration rate by two whole points a second for the duration of an hour is only icing on the cake, honestly, and couldn't even be considered the main feature compared to the flavor.

The next person to stumble upon my clearing is in for one really tasty surprise. I wouldn't be surprised if Kusa nationalized the land around it and started charging people good money for them.

On second thought, I'm going to see if I can just… put the whole tree in my inventory and take it with me. Most likely not, but I feel bad just chopping it down and I refuse to give Kusa a free boost in strength due to how they're treating Karin and her mother when she was still around.

Seriously, fuck Kusa. As soon as Karin has finished the little information gathering mission I've set for her, which is to steal as many Jutsu from the library as possible using her Minds Eye of the Kagura to bypass their security features where possible, we are blowing this popsickle stand the fuck up and getting out of dodge. 

So far, she has amassed quite a haul, to the point that she has enough material to learn for the next year easily since I don't exactly have much to pass on at the moment. I'm thinking that tomorrow night will be our final night here in the forest and hopefully, Mori no Kuni in general.

Yeah, it turns out that the hidden grass village is in the land of woods, which makes absolutely no sense to me.

That's another reason I'm out wandering this particular forest, despite my inability to truly see where I'm going if it weren't for [(Lesser)Minds Eye of the Kagura], [Natural Sense] and [Vital Sense] to guide my way through a backdrop of black and white. 

I can only really 'see' white outlines surrounding the roots, vines, trees and rocks that littered the path I was taking and three of the five potential energies everything contained, but it was more than enough to compensate for my otherwise crippling blindness. 

Beyond my trepidation regarding the world I've found myself flung into without any input from myself and my capability of surviving long enough to get good before I get got, I'm actually excited to see more of it the more Karin fills in the blanks for me during our training. 

Mori no Kuni is unsurprisingly famous for its forests that predate Hashirama and the ridiculous landscapes he left behind in the form of giant oak trees that defy conventional botanical understanding, to the point that this forest used to be the forest people talked about when they talked about big, strong trees. 

Since I might not ever get the opportunity to return here to this particularly biodiverse forest, however, especially since I don't have any real desire to, I want to see if there are any secrets hidden around that I may miss otherwise once Karin and I skedaddle.

It was about three hours into my journey through the thickets and twisting brush after stopping to collect interesting plant seeds and roots that I discovered one such secret.

There was a stone tablet sitting in the middle of a clearing twice the size of the one I've called home for this past week, filled with more natural energy than I've seen in the rest of the forest put together. The source of the energy was not the absolutely massive trees that seemed to be doing their best to devour the tablet, but the tablet itself.

I obviously walked straight up to the thing, heedless of the fact that I can also see dozens or so stone statues of people in differing positions implicating a very painful death via petrification ala natural energy overdose. The One With Nature perk and my [Sage] class seem to negate the negative aspects that normal Humans and living creatures suffer from having their Chakra balance thrown off by introducing so much latent natural energy into their systems at once, so the chances of me turning to stone are slim when I can just expel the natural energy building up in my system through my feet as Haton Chakra. 

My musings on the nature of my abilities regarding the energies of this world thanks to my status as a 'Gamer' will have to wait, though, as I'm really curious as to what the hell is up with this stone tablet and the glowing green writing on it.

[SECRET RELIC DISCOVERED!]

[+2500 exp]

[Ninshu Stone - The First Step]

[Ninshu Stones are long forgotten relics of an age that has been lost to antiquity. Few can stand in their presence, and even fewer can understand them, but those that do leave their marks on the world. For better, or worse.]

[1/8 Ninshu Stones found!]

Well I'll be damned, this doesn't seem very canon but then again, this could be just like the Uchiha clan tablet or whatever. 

It's odd, because I can very clearly read the inscription like it was written in English, even if I've never seen these particular characters before in my life. I'm not sure why that is, but I can hazard a guess that it has something to do with being a [Sage], or Gamer's Mind having some kind of hidden Universal Translator built into it.

It would explain how I'm able to fully understand and communicate with Karin, despite the fact that I do not actually speak the same language as she does.

《To take the first step towards enlightenment, first you must understand balance. Breath in deeply the energy of nature while meditating, but let it not overtake either body or mind. Those who achieve this balance and do not succumb to the curse that Nature inflicts upon the greedy will then perceive the world truly for the first time.》

Okay? I kind of already knew that, but it's cool to have that theory confirmed without risking it for the biscuit. If I were less of a nerd, I'd honestly think that there's nothing left for me to find here, but something about the way that the engraving of the man is meditating with his fist out, and the fact that this is called a [Ninshu Stone], tells me I've got to fist bump the guy while sitting in a lotus position.

[Due to coming to a logical conclusion based on limited evidence, you have gained +1 INT, +1 WIS!]

Oh hell yeah.

The ground is uncomfortable as I sit down on the overgrown stone path that led to the large stone tablet, but I'm rewarded for my discomfort when I reach out with my right fist and connect it with the carvings.

[NEW SKILL GAINED!]

[Passive] - [Natural Energy Mastery] : ['Those who walk the Path of Enlightenment can touch without touching, see without seeing and feel without feeling.', +12% strength of [Senpo] skills, -3% cost of [Senpo] skills.] [lvl:12] [164/1200]

[NEW SKILL GAINED!]

[Active] - [Ninshu] : ['The Gift of Chakra was granted as a tool of understanding, not destruction.', allows the user to share information instantly with others by mutually linking Chakra through physical contact. Requires +100 Reputation or greater to establish a connection with another Chakra user.] [lvl:MAX]

Holy shit, I'm actually really dumb, and now I actually seem to know enough to understand my dumbness. 

I've been using natural energy as a fuel for Haton skills, but not by itself, thus preventing me from gaining the mastery skill the normal way. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume it is the same for physical energy and spiritual energy as well, since I've never used them purely without mixing them with something else first! 

So stupid! So, so stupid!

Ugh, well, now I know, and knowing is half the battle. The other half is committing unspeakable acts you'd never in a million years imagine yourself capable of, but everyone already knows that.

Speaking of stupidity, do I actually need a form of Sage Mode to wield natural energy, since I seem to have the ability to sense and manipulate it without Sage Mode due to the One With Nature perk?

You know what? No, based on the fact that I can manipulate individual energies through mastery skills means that I don't need to be in Sage Mode to wield natural energy. I only need a form of Sage Mode to use Sennin Chakra, which is just a matter of increased potency rather than ability.

[Due to coming to a logical conclusion, you have gained +1 INT!]

Thanks, Game, much appreciated.

Now that I have a better idea of what I'm doing, I could sit here for hours trying to create new skills using my new understanding of natural energy, but my gut is telling me that there is even more to be found in this forest, as this isn't the type of monument to be set just anywhere.

No, this type of tablet would have been on display, or near enough to a compound to be watched and regulated, which means this is only the beginning of what could very well turn into a dungeon for me to crawl through.

I'm really hoping there's a dungeon somewhere around here, I'll be beyond disappointed if there isn't.

So, with a heaving sigh, I hauled myself up from before the beautiful knowledge granting stone that shone far less brightly than before and began to travel along the overgrown stone pathway that led even further into the forest.

And boy oh boy, I freaking walked. The path seemed to go on forever, and it was only due to differing landmarks I could identify along the way that I didn't start to wonder if I'd gotten trapped in some sort of non-euclidian space anomaly or something. 

You never know, ninja's are known to be into some really wild shit, and I wouldn't put it past this world to have some sort of seal capable of trapping people in a never ending loop of the same path repeating infinitely or warping the trapped victim from one edge of the path to another seamlessly.

That's nightmare material alone if I was capable of even dreaming anymore, I wonder if someone's actually created that seal yet.

Wait, yeah, that's the Izanami, basically. 

Freaking Uchiha's, they get all of the cool shit!

As I pondered the karmic ramifications of trapping someone in such a pocket dimension using Fuinjutsu as a medium of creation and empowerment until they either die, or go insane and then die, I finally reached the end of the ever long gravel road that led either to or away from the [Ninshu Stone] I previously discovered.

Bizarrely, the path just randomly ended in the middle of the woods with no way forward through the thickets. 

I'm sure I stood there looking like a confused idiot for close to half an hour before it finally sunk in that someone actually took the time to make a path leading to or from nowhere in particular. I even tried flaring my Chakra multiple times to determine whether said path leading to nowhere was just a genjutsu or potentially something worse for my health.

I stretched my enhanced sense of inner sight eight hundred meters forward, yet there was nothing beyond the oddly potent natural and physical energies of the local fauna for me to see. No path, no dungeon or cave, no ancient temple to plunder, absolutely nothing. 

The uneasy feeling that had formed in my gut progressively worsened the longer I lingered, like someone was nudging me away, eventually leading me to turn back towards the [Ninshu Stone] so I could begin my trek back to my clearing as quickly as I could without tripping every few feet.

That uneasy feeling grew exponentially as I began to recognize landmarks that I'd memorized, especially since they were the landmarks that had existed prior to the [Ninshu Stone] and not those that I'd marked after discovering said secret location. 

Someone actually did hit me with some sort of non-euclidian space bending technique. I'd be terrified right now if that was still possible, but instead I just feel intense trepidation.

The moment I reached where I knew the clearing that had previously housed said [Ninshu Stone] was supposed to be, I instead found myself some few hundred meters from my own clearing and with someone appearing to be standing over Karin, who is showing signs of obvious combat fatigue based on her low levels of Chakra and vital energies.

I'll question the strange case of teleportation later, first I need to assess the person I've suddenly found myself at odds with. 

'[Observe]'

Name: Zōsui  
Level: 57  
Race: Human  
Class: [Shinobi]  
HP: 7,127/7,353  
CP: 1,702/1,905  
CC: 84%  
VIT: 42  
END: 38  
STR: 75  
DEX: 63  
INT: 44  
WIS: 13  
LUK: 10  
Rep: -210

[Zōsui is a high ranking Shinobi of Kusagakure and the Jounin directly in charge of the oversight of Uzumaki Karin. Willing to do absolutely anything for the sake of his village, Zōsui has determined that his ward intends to betray Kusa and has proceeded to act accordingly without proper authorization or communication with his fellow high ranking Jounin.]

For being such a high level, Zosui has some pretty weak stats in comparison. Considering he is a high ranking Jounin, however, it is safe to assume that what he lacks in raw power, he makes up for in skill and experience. 

This isn't good.

Okay, think, quickly now. How do I go about this?

Taking notice of Zosui and Karin's position and the distance between us, I won't be able to use a Haton skill until I'm close enough for Zosui to notice. Getting up close and personal with someone whose raw strength and speed is twice over what I'm capable of is not a good idea, but I'm not seeing many options here.

Is this guy a sensor? Would he sense an [Inton: Kyuu] heading his way?

Wait…

He shouldn't be able to sense raw natural energy, right? 

Okay, good, that's a good thought, I like where I'm going with this. 

So, how do I get close enough to him without him noticing me somehow? 

As he begins to raise his right hand with a kunai knife positioned for a downward blow into the back of Karin's head as she leans forward in exhaustion from her curled up position, I decide that stealth was never an option.

Concentrating raw natural energy to the tip of my right index finger as quickly as I can, I compress as much as I can into a spherical shape no larger than said index finger, take aim for the side of his head and fire it off the same way I would [Inton: Kyuu].

[NEW SKILL CREATED!]

[-2054 HP!]

I dismiss the popups with a mental command and 'watch' the green, marble shaped bullet fly through the air at speeds [Inton: Kyuu] couldn't hope to match and slam into Zosui's raised arm at the bicep, absolutely shredding through muscle and sinew before zipping past his face and further into my grove before burying itself in my apple tree and exploding.

The snack sized pieces of tree bark and heartwood spray outwards and my first masterpiece topples with enough force to shake the ground beneath Zosui's feet, throwing him even further off balance than the sudden crippling attack possibly could.

Then, Karin goes and does something that I didn't think she would have been capable of for a few more years, at the very least.

She awakens her Adamantine Sealing Chains at the same moment my first Sage Bullet impacts Zosui's arm.

Glowing blue-green chains of varying length burst from her back, ensnaring Zosui before he could recover and binding him in place long enough for me to close the distance between us by a few hundred more meters so I could take a more accurate second shot at his dome.

[-5,073 HP!]

The moment my second attack makes contact, his head disappears in a spray of viscera that I could barely sense thanks to the sudden disappearance of his vital energies.

[For defeating an opponent more than twice your level, you have been awarded (+10 SP)!]

[+42,519 EXP!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

Oh shit, I actually just killed that man. 

…

That can wait, first I need to check on Karin.

"Karin, are you okay?" I call out after stepping into my clearing, doing my best to ignore the thick metallic smell that clung to the air now. "Who the hell was that guy and why was he here bothering you?"

Technically I knew who he was, but the question was still valid regardless. 

"Nemui-Sensei!" Karin ignores the question all together, instead throwing herself at me sluggishly the moment I came within arms length of her. 

Despite my surprise, I'm able to catch the younger redhead and hold her tightly as she begins to cry into my shoulder, her muffled voice barely audible even to my slightly enhanced sense of hearing. 

After a few seconds, I shake her gently before prying her off of me. "Karin, we need to get the hell out of here. I just killed that man dead and something tells me Kusagakure won't take kindly to that."

"Y-yeah, you're right!" Karin seems to realize just what kind of situation we are in as quickly as I did, "Okay, okay, let me grab my bag from my hut and we can go, do you have any idea on where we can go?"

I ponder the question for all of a second before nodding.

"Hi no Kuni for now, Nami when we have our bearings. " I answer before moving over to what remains of my apple tree to pluck the many apples left over as to not leave anything behind for Kusa to use, "Let me know when you're ready."

Karin looks torn, but a quick nudge with my shoulder gets her going, her hypothetical hidden agility stat working in her favor once more. 

Okay, now that Karin is occupied, I need to stuff Zosui's rapidly cooling corpse in my inventory and snag up as many of my apples as possible before we go. My hut is completely bare save for my bed roll, but it could rot for all I care. I have enough bamboo stored away to recreate an entire small village should I ever have the need, and recreating a bed roll will take me all of a few seconds.

I wander over to Zosui's body and nudge it a few times with my foot to double check his deceased status before stuffing his now inanimate body into my inventory for later usage, should I ever find myself in need of a corpse. In place of his corpse, however, is what appears to be some sort of glimmering object whose shape I can't distinguish.

I reach over and touch the shiny object, because fucking duh, it's probably loot, and lo and behold another notification briefly flashes across my periphery before I dismiss it.

[+1 Gacha Coin received!]

Aw shit, there's a Gacha system too? That's cool I guess, but knowing my luck… you know what, it's probably best I leave that unsaid, no need to jinx myself. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

In the meantime, however, I should probably focus more on tampering with the remaining evidence of my crime as to help obfuscate the investigation sure to come of this.

I can't do much to clean up the grey matter, shards of skull and other various bits of gore, but I doubt Kusa is going to be able to do much with the scattered viscera besides identify the victim. That being said, I kick dirt over the few chunks of skull I can sense with my off brand Byakugan and start throwing down seeds for an invasive species of incredibly toxic flowering vines that grow in the deeper parts of this very forest. 

I'll jump start their growth before Karin and I leave, that way the investigation team is unable to retrieve anything incriminating without resorting to some hardcore fire jutsu, which would just cook the evidence into the clay regardless. 

Once I'm sure that my inventory isn't going to spit Zosui's body out for some reason and is stuffed to the brim with another stack of pearl apples, Karin comes jogging out of her hut with a small backpack on her back and a few extra pouches attached to her hips for extra carrying capacity.

I motion for her to hand over her bag with a point of my finger and a wag of said finger in my direction, to which she wordlessly complies. I consider for a moment continuing to hide my [Gamer] abilities from her, but eventually decide that two heads are better than one, and that my odds of survival would be far greater if Karin received even a portion of my abilities by joining my party.

'Create Party, Uzumaki's Only, invite Uzumaki Karin.'

The party window popped up upon my first command, accepted the party name and sent out Karin's invitation within moments, causing me to hold my breath for all of a moment before she reacted.

"Wh-what the hell is this?!" Karin exclaims, her voice trembling slightly in confusion before she brings her hands up in a ram seal and expels some of her Chakra outwards in a pulse. "Kai!"

"Just tap yes, Karin, I don't have much time to explain in detail, but think of it as an incredibly potent Kekkai Genkai that I can grant a limited form of to those of my choosing." I explain while shoving her bag into my inventory, causing her to once more warble in confusion over what she just witnessed. "You're bag is safe, I have access to a small section of subspace tied in with said Kekkai Genkai, you might be able to use it as well if we're lucky."

She hesitates for another second or two before tapping on the 'Yes' icon, causing a second icon to pop up beneath mine in my peripheral un-vision displaying her health points, remaining chakra and her position relative to mine on a weird mini-map that seems to be limited to as far as I can sense. A quick check reveals that there is also a mostly greyed out world map that displays her location as well, which gives me quite a bit of relief.

Should I leave her unattended in the future again, I'll know if she gets into trouble right away based on her health and chakra levels alone. If we can figure out the voice chat feature, that would be even better. For now, however, we need to be on our merry way before the Hanya show up and rain on our parade.

"Alright, let's focus on getting to Hi no Kuni first and deciding what to do from there, alright?" I question a still suspiciously quiet Karin, who nods and pauses only for a moment before she follows behind me in a south eastern direction through the thickets.

Away from Mori no Kuni we went. Within four hours and a few breaks to allow Karin to regain her breath, we were deep enough into Hi no Kuni to risk setting up a fireless camp for Karin to sleep after a quick dinner of a few slices of melon and regular apples. 

The younger redhead was very easily able to succumb to unconsciousness, perhaps a sign of her trust in me, or perhaps a sign of the trauma of seeing her tormentor wasted before her. 

I couldn't be sure either way, so I banish the stray query and focus on the chakra signatures about four hundred feet away, hidden amongst the leaves. It didn't take long to deduce they were ANBU and not Hanya agents based on the shape of their masks.

So long as they kept their distance, I saw no reason to let them know I was aware of their presence.

Finally, after a few hours, they left, but I couldn't bring myself to sleep. The fire eventually died and I made no effort to rekindle it, despite knowing Karin and I were alone. Instead, I remained vigilant and did my best to stay alert, unwilling to have someone get the drop on us.

It was a long night, but eventually dawn broke through the darkness that clung to the land like a second skin, shining its brilliant beams directly into Karin's eyes and waking her before I could.

After a quick wash in the nearest stream, separately of course, not that it mattered since I'm blind and not into girls half my mental age, the two of us continued our journey east while avoiding the first few smaller settlements, just in case there were a few informants present that were loyal to the Hanya.

Being so close to the border of Mori no Kuni, it wouldn't surprise me to find Kusa loyalists since we were only just barely entering Fire Country territory. 

A mid afternoon snack of apples and melons later and we continued yet again, until eventually night fell once more. 

Still, I refused to sleep, instead allowing Karin to enjoy a full night's rest while I continued to plot and plan for the future. 

It was only midway through another bite of my midnight snack consisting of, you guessed it, yet another fucking apple, that I realized that I haven't once looked at my stats in the past two days, instead focusing solely on keeping watch for hostiles that I'm damn sure were lurking in the shadows.

It's not paranoia if one of your perks actually increases the likelihood of chance encounters by twenty percent, and any chance encounter left up to fate is just one more chance for me to end up back in that black abyss. 

I ain't going back there and I'll gank any punk that tries to make me fifteen ways from the eighth day of the week with extreme prejudice. 

'[Stats]'

[Stats]

Name: Nemui  
Level: 28 [7,378/15,863]  
Race: Human  
Clan: [Uzumaki]  
Class: [Ronin],[Sage],[???]  
HP: 86,688/86,688 [+9/s]  
CP: 8,064/8,064 [+10/s]/[-20/5s]  
CC: 62%  
VIT: 72  
END: 43  
STR: 37  
DEX: 22  
INT: 38  
WIS: 29  
LUK: 20

Ryo: 100

SP Available: 50

Well damn, I have fifty freaking points! 

I'm not going to spend them, obviously, because saving them for later is something most Gamers recommend, but they're nice to look at until I figure out what to spend them on I guess. 

That said, my health and chakra alike has grown quite a bit for just three levels. I've learned that the average stats for a civilian very rarely exceed twenty points in any one stat besides those with occupations that require back breaking labor or rigorous mental work after spying on a few civilians from afar using a mix of my inner eye and [Observe]. 

I'm comfortable enough with my ability to stab someone with a bamboo spear to deal with potential bandits in the future now that I'm pretty well above even the strongest basic civilian in raw stats alone, should they actually be of civilian quality. Anyone with actual shinobi training is just going to get shot in the face with a [Nature Bullet], point blank until I get strong enough to beat them into submission instead of relying on outright murder. 

Speaking of murder, that fucker Zosui dropped a Gacha Coin, which is just crazy. 

Pulling it from my [Inventory], the strange, four dimensional object that could loosely be described more as a block more than a coin churns uneasily in my hand. The sensation is enough to make me nearly drop it, but I maintain my grip and study the object as best as I can and even [Observe] it a few times, only to be left confused about how to use it.

Eventually, I just put it away and decide to fool with it when I'm not jumping at shadows and I have time to devote to raging afterward if I pull something useless. 

Oh well, back to grinding [Observe], I guess.


	4. Chapter 4

Playing Blind

Chapter 4,

I do not own anything pertaining to either Naruto or The Gamer.

《PB》

By the dawn of my third day in Hi no Kuni, I was about ready to go back on my promise to not resort to genocide.

"You heard me you blind fuck, give me your goddamn ryo or I'm going to shove this-"

[-942 HP!]

[+152 exp!]

[+1 Shoddy Katana!]

"The next person to start waving a sword in my face is getting turned inside out, capiche?" I question the remaining highwaymen now stepping away from me as I aim my still smoking finger in their direction, "You know what? Empty your pockets you useless sacks of shit, this is a reverse robbery."

"Wait, wha-"

[-843 HP!]

[+127 exp!]

[+1 leather chest plate!]

"I'll have an easier time picking the money off of your corpse you stupid prick. Now, empty your pockets, drop your weapons and get the fuck out of my way or die like a baby back bitch here and now."

Needless to say, I've about had enough of the bandits around these parts. I may not actually be mad, but it's apparent that the nice guy act doesn't exactly work with less than savory folk, so here we are, giving them the Samuel Motherfucking Jackson treatment.

When no one started motioning to actually do as I said, probably still in shock over seeing two of their friends minds getting blown, I shrug and finish off the rest with four more successive shots of [Sage Bullet], leaving no one alive out of this particular troupe.

I immediately feel the drain of nearly five thousand points worth of chakra, but a quick bite of a pearl apple and a bit of time will fix that issue.

"Baby back bitch?" Karin questions after a few moments of silence with a slight giggle, having probably grown used to the bloodshed after the first four groups of bandits that were stupid enough to try to rob us due to my blindfold making me look like a soft target. "Really?"

"I couldn't think of anything else to convince them to fuck off, alright? I was trying to establish dominance." I retort with a roll of my eyes, not that she could see that, "My shit talking is too potent, I'll ease into it a bit slower with the next group."

"You know, maybe you should just… let me do the negotiating?" Karin says slowly, causing me to turn my head towards her just as slowly before laughing outright.

"After you told that first group to choke on an Akimichi's ever-expanding dick when they threatened you? Okay, sure, because you shit talking them works better than me shit talking them." 

"I mean, they still end up dead either way, right?"

I had to admit, she had a point. It wasn't a good one, but it was still factual.

I ignored her rather than admitting that, of course, instead stuffing the six rapidly cooling headless corpses into my inventory before proceeding to continue my slow walk eastward towards Nami.

She caught up eventually.

《PB》

"So this is Tanzaku-Gai, huh?" I question as Karin leads me further into one of the largest settlements we had yet to come across during our travel across Hi no Kuni, "It looks… nice."

I wasn't even making a Toph joke this time, either. From what my inner eye was picking up, this place actually was hella pretty. The scent of some kind of pork dish floated down the dirt road karin and I found ourselves travelling down, causing my mouth to water before I banished the desire to stuff my gullet. 

Everything about the scenery and even smells of Tanzaku Gai were foreign to me, so perhaps this place appealed to me because it was so new as far as design goes when compared to the concrete jungles of America. 

Damn I could use a hamburger about now.

I can practically feel Karins expression in her chakra alone as she turns to look at me over her shoulder, even if I can't distinguish her facial features quite yet.

"You know what I mean, don't stare at me like that." I counter her silent accusation quickly, "Whatever, just lead us to a hotel, I'm ready for a nap."

After having been up for three days straight jumping at shadows, I was about ready to sleep. I may not be physically exhausted, but my mind was going numb to say the least.

Tanzaku-Gai is one of the few actual locations I even slightly knew about, so it was obviously my first choice as far as rest stops go. It's not like I couldn't afford it after pillaging a few thousand ryo from the corpses of the bandits unfortunate enough to try and rob Karin and I on our way towards Nami. 

About ten minutes later and I was peeling my robes off and diving onto one of the two futon beds available without a care in the world who saw me, the comfort of the stuffed down mattress almost enough to lull me to sleep immediately.

Instead, though, I roll onto my back and address Karin.

"Alright, so when I pass out, I'm going to be asleep for exactly eight hours. I wouldn't recommend going out alone, but I know that you're going to regardless, so I won't pretend like I can stop you. Instead, do you think I can ask a favor?" I eventually break the silence with a cough before proceeding.

Karin nods her head after struggling to speak for some reason.

"I am in dire need of clothing, but I can't exactly see what I'm doing well enough to trust the shopkeepers from giving me an all pink outfit like my name is Frank. Do you think you can pick me up a few pairs of pants, a belt, a shirt and some sandals, preferably in shades of grey or navy? Obviously I'll pay for it and you can spend the rest however." I list off after debating on just continuing to wear my robes before swallowing my pride to ask for help. "Including a bottle or two of some nice perfume if you find a scent that you like."

Was I bribing her?

Yes. 

Did I care?

Not in the least.

I cannot exactly trust my senses to pick out a decent and durable outfit, but Karin has a good enough fashion sense and shinobi know how to pick something decent for me. 

Sadly, however, my blindness and her youth make us both prime targets for being conned.

Whatever, I'm sure we'll be loaded by the time we make it to Nami at the rate the local bandit population throws themselves at us. I've never heard of so many people being so eager to die for a few measly coins, but then again, I also grew up with friends who grew up in much rougher neighborhoods than myself.

Some do it out of desperation, some out of a lack of trade skills, some out of a desire to do harm to others and some because it's 'cool'.

It's a shame mercy is a commodity I just can't afford right now, I'm sure some of the more desperate of the bandits even had families.

Oh well, not my problem, sucks to suck and all that.

My last moments before succumbing to sleep were spent ruminating over my lack of regret for committing what may as well count as mass murder. 

《PB》

"Karin, are you sure you didn't buy me an all pink outfit?" I question for a third time after dressing myself in the rather high quality clothing she had procured during her foray into the local bazaar, "because I swear to Ophis if you did…"

My new duds consisted of a pair of basic style fatigues that were slightly too tight, a pair of tall shinobi sandals that were a size too large and a belt that fit just right. Sadly, she thought it would be cute to buy me a mesh shirt, so I'm stuck shirtless for now because fuck wearing fishnets, I'm not a mall goth. At least now I only think I look like a low class wanna-be mercenary and not a homeless weeaboo.

"Relax, sensei, I haven't pulled a prank like that in years." Karin assures me for the umpteenth time, causing me to cast yet another dubious scowl in her direction, "and who is this… Orphis? Are you religious or something?"

"I mean, no, but yes?" I question back more than state before changing the subject, because I'm worried about talking about the Dragon Gods just in case they exist in a dimension close to my current position now that I know the Omniverse is a thing, "I'll trust you for now, Karin, but I'm asking the first person we come across to describe my outfit to me just to be sure."

"Sure, sure, whatever keeps you up at night." My apprentice drawls sarcastically while tightening her thigh pouch filled with rather high quality kunai from Tanzaku-Gais local blacksmith. "So, are you ready to head out? We've got a long way to go before we even get close to Nami, after all."

"Sure, sure. Thanks for the tanto, by the way, you didn't have to pick me up a weapon." I mention as I adjust the sheath of the weapon again to try and make its positioning more comfortable.

Thankfully, I can actually wield it with my current stats, so now I have a real weapon to stab people with instead of relying on a bamboo spear.

'[Observe]'

[Dagger - Tanto] - [Hido Tanto]

[Uncommon]

[0/0/8/20/20/0/0]

[-/-/C/C/C/-/-]

[AR+62]

[This Tanto was forged by Mitsuhide Odamura, a well known blacksmith who has crafted over a thousand blades for the armies of Hi no Kuni and its Daimyo. It has no special abilities but it is of higher quality than its selling price would suggest.]

It was a nice weapon, easy to use and quite frankly, closer to my level than Shiohi is. I'd have to dump all fifty of my points into dexterity to even wield the wakizashi Karin says was the other Nemui's, so it'll stay in my inventory until I somehow get good, I guess, because that would be a dumb use of my points.

As it is, I'm good with eighty thousand health points and an unsensible attack, though I really want to just kick someone in the face already.

Wait a minute…

"Karin, let's go find a clearing and train for a bit before we leave, I may have just thought of something." I say after a few moments of surprisingly clear thoughts for having such a low intelligence stat.

"Oh, uh, sure, I think we passed out outside the west gate a few miles back. Want to race?" Karin questioned with a bit of smugness in her tone, to which I replied with a snort.

"We both know you'd win you little shit, no need to rub it in." I snark back before shrugging the comfortable blanket off my shoulders and into my inventory along with everything else in the hotel room that wasn't bolted down. "Now let's get out of here before that nosy maid comes back around again."

Including both futons, obviously, because I'm not sleeping on the ground when I can just bring my newly acquired bed with me everywhere I go from now on.

I even took the paintings, even though I have no clue what they look like. I mean, why not? 

I don't have a problem, they have the problem, obviously. These beds couldn't have been cheap, after all.

"I think she just wanted an excuse to see you shirtless, Sensei…" Karin mutters under her breath just loud enough for me to hear, making me suspect she did it on purpose.

Since it was obviously something I was meant to retort to, I opt to ignore her and instead gesture for her to lead the way, which she did after sticking her tongue out at me and throwing her hair over her shoulder like a sassy bitch.

It's good to see her in such high spirits compared to how she acted around me a week ago. When it became clear that I wasn't going to rip her head off for making a joke, she made a ton of progress towards coming out of her shell.

She's obviously still a bit much sometimes when excited, but by now I'm convinced all Uzumaki lean towards chaotic neutral on the alignment spectrum from birth.

After about twenty minutes of walking at a rather quick pace for a civilian and a snail's crawl for Karin, we finally make it to the clearing that will be our training ground for the next few hours while I see if the system will let me cheat a few more times by creating skills from memory alone.

"Alright, give me about five minutes to figure this out, then I'm going to see if my theory about one of my new skills is right." I say while leaning down to do a few leg stretches to get warmed up before I make a complete fool of myself.

"Sure, I'll practice Air Walking in the meantime I guess, just give me a holler." Karin nods before setting off to do just as she said, stepping onto a platform of semisolid air that only a sensor could tell was there.

While she's doing that, I will be seeing if I can force the system to create a [Taekwondo] skill for me.

While I am not proficient by any means, I did take enough classes as a kid to remember a few basic forms. Hopefully, enough for the System to just info dump the rest of what I need to know straight into my brain upon creation of the skill.

After a while, I lost myself between the mid-blocks, twirls, punches and snap kicks as the first few basic forms came back to me.

And then, I was proven correct again.

[New Skill Created!]

[Passive] - [Martial Arts - WTF Taekwondo] : [Created in South Korea after the native schools of Martial Arts had been destroyed or forgotten during Japanese occupation, this style specializes in foot work, discipline and kicking the absolute sin out of your opponents. Increases all kicking damage by 10%, increases users flexibility and balance to 'near perfect'.] [lvl:1] [25/100]

Houston, we have liftoff! 

The data dump takes a few seconds to comprehend, and the feeling of having my muscle memory being overridden is not pleasant, but within moments I'm a changed man, just rearing to to force my enemies to taste and smell my feet for years to come in their worst nightmares.

Look, it's not a fetish, okay?

Now that I can do the spinniest of spin kicks, I'm ready for the next bandit unfortunate enough to show his face around me! I'm serving toe jam for breakfast, lunch and dinner from now on, free of charge!

Then again, I might still just shoot them, just to be sure. Getting stabbed kind of fucking sucks, as I learned the first time I tried to politely tell the bandits of fire country that I refuse to give them my cash. Nothing I do seems to deter the brain dead scum around these parts, now that I think about it.

Now that I know I can just cheat my way into eventually being a Taijutsu master, though, what other types of martial arts can the System help me recreate?

Wait, I can't actually recreate either other actual fighting style I know, since they both require consistent and somewhat skilled sparring partners to learn.

It's not like I have a proper sparring partner to recreate Aikido or Judo right now, anyway, so I guess this will have to do.

Mixing Taekwondo with kenjutsu should also be relatively easy, all things considered, especially now that I have a good idea on what I'm doing. Perhaps I should just focus on getting comfortable wielding a weapon and kicking trees before going all in trying to throw people around like rag dolls, though, just to be on the safe side.

Ugh, I hate being so indecisive, I blame my low intelligence score. 

"Alright, Karin, my plan worked, so let's work on step two." I call out just loud enough for my apprentice to hear, causing her to stop her random cartwheels through the air and drop down to ground level not far from where I've seated myself.

"What's up, Sensei?" Karin questions before plopping down and crossing her legs after I gesture for her to do so.

"Now, we are going to cheat." I say after a moment of considering how to explain what's about to happen, "I need you to bump fists with me, and when we do, allow your Chakra to blend with mine. This should allow me to basically share some of my skills with you directly instead of forcing you to learn them the old fashioned way, and vice versa." 

"Wait, seriously?!" Karin once more enters her excited puppy mode at the thought of actually learning something from me, which will unsurprisingly be a first since I accepted her as my apprentice. 

You know, since I don't exactly have many skills worth teaching that won't turn her into stone or shred her Chakra coils and all.

"Yep. Now, I think this is supposed to be a mutual exchange of knowledge, so think about everything you know about Shosen no Jutsu and let's see if this works, alright?" I ask with barely concealed excitement, eager to see if Karin and I can just piggy-back skills off of one another like I imagine we can.

"Alright, I'm ready, I think." Karin murmurs, her voice sounding as if she were actually concentrating, so I reach out while offering a stray prayer to the Loli Dragon God and activate my [Ninshu] skill after pressing my closed fist against Karin's.

[Do you wish to learn Shosen no Jutsu?]

[Y]/[N]

With gusto, I accept and once more suppress a shiver as raw information is dumped directly into my brain, all pertaining to not only how to produce medical Chakra, which is nothing like I thought it would be, but how to actually use said medical Chakra even somewhat properly.

[New Skill Learned!]

[Active] - [Shosen no Jutsu] : [Allows the user to create healing Chakra that surrounds their hands, which can be guided any way the user wills. Heals (int)*vit/s, costs -(50)cp/s.] [lvl:1] [1/100]

[New Skill Learned!]

[Passive] - [Medical Mastery] : [Passively increases the potency of all healing and biology related skills by 1%, decreases the cost of all medical skills by 1%] [lvl:1] [1/100]

It took a bit longer than it did after learning Taekwondo for the strange feeling that I got after info dumps to fade, but when it did I nearly jumped for joy before remembering that I could barely even feel joy without being forced to pretend like I have been, if only for the sake of normalcy. 

I can freaking heal people now! And I'm not just talking about healing minor scrapes and bruises, either. Given enough time, I can probably safely keep my body alive indefinitely by safely managing and encouraging cellular mitosis.

No wonder Tsunade was so feared, this medical crap is broken if even a quarter of my current theories turn out to be possible. Then again, I watched that woman survive getting smashed in two before piecing herself back together once upon a future that I refuse to allow to come to pass.

While I'm over here considering my future as a wandering medic, I notice Karin having a mental breakdown of sorts as she grips her head in confusion before standing up, still confused as hell, and kicking the air with a textbook spinning high kick.

"I know, right? Imagine actually kicking someone in the face with one of those bad boys." I say with a small grin threatening to appear on my usually apathetic face, "I almost feel bad for those bandit's we are most likely going to encounter when we leave."

"After what that first guy threatened to do to me after dealing with you, I want them all to die choking. I don't care who they are, or why they do what they do." Karin admitted with what sounded like anger coloring her voice.

It was hard to tell, she was still going through puberty after all. Poor girl is a late bloomer.

"Do you actually know a fire jutsu? Because I know the seals for grand fireball, I just… can't seem to get the standard twelve seals to work for me for some reason." I question, causing Karin to quit her chain of spinning kicks that were surprisingly fluid and return to my side rather quickly, even with her hidden agility stat.

"Pleasepleasepleaseplease-"

"Alright, repeat after me, boar, horse, tiger. You breath in, knead chakra inside your body to convert it to fire, then breathe it out in either a stream or a giant orb, depending on how much Chakra you feed it." I say while holding out a hand to prevent her from just trying to use the technique while facing me, "Do you actually know how to safely practice these sorts of things?"

Karin stares at me for a few moments before turning her face away, meaning no, she didn't.

"Alright, that's fine, I'll teach you something else first that is… probably less likely to kill you, and very useful for learning potentially fatal skills. Shadow Clones." I say while bringing my hands up into the weird cross tiger seals that Naruto threw around like he was repping a gang or something.

"Make this seal, then think of creating a clone with a solid shell surrounding it like skin. It's sort of like creating normal illusory clones, but more solid I think?" I stop to consider how Shadow Clones actually function before shrugging, "Yeah, it should be a lot like making normal Bunshin if my memory isn't completely wack after Orochimaru melted my brain, still figuring that all out."

"Oh, I didn't realize that caused permanent memory damage for you, Sensei. I'm sorry." Karin's Chakra gains a somewhat bluer than normal tint to it, causing me to wave her concern away quickly before qe derailed away from my experiment disguised as training.

"It's fine. If this Shadow Clone jutsu actually works for you, I honestly think you'll be Jounin level or so in just a year or so if we train hard." I say with a bit of embellishment added in to hopefully peak her interest enough to test my theory for me.

That is, if I can teach Karin a skill that I can't currently use due to not being able to use hand seals, and then learn it back from her using [Ninshu]. Another experiment I intend on conducting is if I can teach Karin skills I gained through perks, or if those are considered restricted.

[For coming up with a well reasoned, if convoluted plan, you have gained +2 INT!]

Oh hell yeah, does that mean my plan is going to work?

"Alright, so… make this hand seal, and make a clone but more solid?" Karin questions after tilting her head to the side in confusion.

"Yep, think of it like air walking in a way, almost. The clones are naturally very chakra intensive, so imagine using about three times more Chakra than a normal clone requires and go up until it works. Trust me, the System should help out, and if it doesn't there are other ways I can get that jutsu for you." I explain, pausing only long enough to catch my breath after such a rather long winded explanation.

Damn, when was the last time I was so enthusiastic about something? It's been a long time since I could nerd out like this, let alone have said spas attack be so productive.

It felt good to know that I could reach out and shove my toes down someone's throat if they looked at me wrong without tripping and falling on my ass. It also felt good knowing I could actually help people now besides just leaving crates of food behind for the less fortunate to eat.

Okay, so I haven't actually fed any homeless or poor folk yet, but I have killed a lot of bandits, which should net me at least some good karma at least. Maybe. Hopefully.

"Okay, if you're sure." Karin accepts my explanation with a nod before performing the weird cross-tiger hand seal and calling out the name of the jutsu, which I thought I had broken her of when she first demonstrated Bunshin no Jutsu for me.

With a poof of Chakra-laden smoke, a nearly identical clone of Karin appears next to the original, causing me to clap lightly at seeing her perform the jutsu on her first try. No doubt because of the System helping her out, because there's no way she should have been able to bullshit that skill into working with my poor explanation alone.

From the way she was studying her clone every which way, down to groping it even, I'd say it was a success. I'd say it was an even greater success when Karin got into a catfight with her clone due to her clone being displeased about being groped, I imagine.

"Alright, girls, break it up. Karin, good job, I'm proud of you. Clone Karin, good job too, that was a nice kick to the clam. Always remember to aim for the soft bits." I say while I can practically feel both Karin's scowl at me at once. "Karin, feel free to dismiss the clone and tell me what happens afterwards."

"Wait, no, please, I don't want to-"

Clone Karin disappears in another puff of Chakra smoke and then the real Karin gasps in realization, at the same time that I realize that I actually got the two confused and that it was the real Karin who kicked her oddly durable clone in the cooch after her clone groped her.

Damn, I'll have to be careful of clone users in the future until I can get better at sensing, I guess. 

"Wait, do I learn everything my clones do?" Karin asks in a tone that was torn between amazement and confusion, "That's… so freaking useful!" 

"Not only do you get their memories, but if you have a few clones practice jutsu while you exercise your body, you'll also gain any experience they gained when you dispel them, including new jutsu." I explain the true function of the Shadow Clones finally, now that she could understand what I mean through experiencing it for herself.

"Oh. Oh. Mama likey." Karin begins to practically vibrate in place before stopping to ponder something. "So, what's the best way to use this skill, in your opinion?"

"Well first, I want to see if I can actually learn that skill from you with that one skill I used to teach you Taekwondo so quickly. Then, we break down the most economic usage for our clones while you and I spar." 

Needless to say, Karin and I spent quite some time in that clearing, to the point the moon was high in the sky before either of us felt like we had kicked one another in the face and genitalia enough for one day. 

After dispelling our Shadow Clones, three for her and five for me, we both finished maxing out [Air Walking] and had each leveled up our [WTF Taekwondo] skills to level four and five respectively. 

I quickly check my new skills once more, whistling in appreciation at the levels displayed for only a days worth of practice.

[Passive] - [Martial Arts - WTF Taekwondo] : [Created in South Korea after the native schools of Martial Arts had been destroyed or forgotten during Japanese occupation, this style specializes in foot work, discipline and kicking the absolute sin out of your opponents. Increases all kicking damage by 15%, passively increases the users flexibility and balance to 《Perfect》.] [lvl:5] [23/500]

[Active] - [Kage Bunshin no Jutsu] : [A highly dangerous kinjutsu created by Tobirama Senju, forbidden to be taught to those unprepared due to high cost and potential mental backlash from misuse. Shadow Clones double as both training tools and force multipliers alike due to the user receiving all memories of the clones, including muscle memory. -500cp/(13)] [lvl:3] [50/300]

For some reason, I seemed to be gaining experience towards my levels and skills alike far quicker than Karin, but I guess that could just be the difference between being a party member and the party leader, System wise.

I'm certainly not complaining, because getting outpaced by my apprentice using my own power would be bullshit.

Something else we discovered is her lack of skill points to spend after she leveled up between Mori no Kuni and here, meaning she's stuck training her stats the old fashioned way, but the ability to learn skills and access an independent inventory system from my own sort of made up for it.

Plus, let's be honest, having the Shadow Clone training method stacked on top of the already monstrously potent [Gamer] abilities would have boosted Karin to Tsunade levels of badass in just a few months flat. Hell, give me another three or four months of training like I did today and I'll be around Obito's level easily with Taijutsu and Senpo skills alone, should my growth rate stay consistent.

All in all, I couldn't be happier as I unseal one of my two stolen beds for Karin to sleep in while I continue with my physical training well into the night.

Midway through my nightly exercises of a thousand pushups, situps, crunches, squats and various kicks, I realized that I can actually abuse Shadow Clones in a way even Naruto probably couldn't.

Can my clones use skills like [Kuji-Kiri]? Because if so, they can basically stay alive indefinitely, right?

Only one way to find out, right?

After dispelling one of the clones working on unlocking Wind Manipulation by recreating what we remember from Naruto's wind training, I have the clone use [Inton:Kyuu] a few times to drain its Chakra a bit before it sits in a meditative stance and starts flashing esoteric hand seals that were likely to get him shot in certain parts of California.

A quick [Observe] confirms my theory, my clones can recover their Chakra using meditation skills.

Holy shit.

Holy. Shit.

Just thinking about all the crazy stuff I can do now with self recovering clones is enough to make my head hurt, so I lean back against the tree I've spent the past few hours kicking the shit out of and take a deep breath before sighing in contentment.

"Oh yeah, it's all coming together."

《PB》

I grunt in exertion as I parry a blow meant for my throat with my tanto while launching another brutal snap kick to my opponents abdomen, his shoddily crafted Katana falling to the ground uselessly as he empties the contents of his stomach violently after folding forward over my Chakra enhanced foot.

I see Karin cut the throat of one of her opponents with the kunai in her right hand before she kicks the next bandit unfortunate enough to exist within range of her sight in his throat with the kunai clinging to her sandal using the surface clinging exercise.

I nod in appreciation at seeing Karin end up so bloodthirsty so quickly, but having a group of grown men tell her to her face that they're going to violate her over my dead corpse was probably the wrong thing to say to her after what happened to her mother in Kusa.

I can't say I blame her for her severe hatred of bandits, because I felt the same way after hearing the bullshit most of these faceless outcasts spew when their confidence hadn't left them yet.

Turning my attention back to my opponent, I poise my blade to finish him off with a quick downward stab, only for him to hold a hand up before speaking quickly.

"Please, wait, before you kill me… can i ask just one question?" The nameless bandit begs pathetically, his voice warbling slightly as I assume tears, snot and vomit dribble down his chin.

I'm wary for any shenanigans, and I'm still going to kill him, so I nod silently in his direction to grant his final request.

"Why the fuck are you dressed in hot, sparkly pink?!-"

[-619 HP!]

[+183 exp!]

[+1 treasure map!]

I stab my blade downwards with perhaps a bit more force than necessary while turning my head slowly in Karin's direction.

I can tell from the way her shoulders stiffen after finishing off the last of the bandits that she heard the now dead bandits question.

"You've got five seconds to un-ass some actual clothes for me or I swear you're going to regret it."

She didn't un-ass any clothes, however, and instead started running.

"Why are you running?! Get your scrawny ass back here!"

Ah, when I get my hands on this girl, I might just bend her over my knee and spank the hell out of her. Then again, she might like that, the kinkly little freak, so maybe I'll have to just… increase her physical training to an unreasonable degree.

Yeah, that sounds good.

She's an Uzumaki, she should survive.

Maybe.


	5. Chapter 5

Playing Blind

Chapter 5,

I do not own anything pertaining to either Naruto or The Gamer.

《PB》

Have I ever mentioned that Karin is fast as fuck?

Like seriously, why the hell were [Shinobi] so quick compared to me? This game wasn't balanced very well, if you ask me, where are the patch notes?

After spending the past ten minutes running my fellow redhead down while pushing my legs to the maximum using my recently maxed out basic Chakra Enhancement skill, I can admit that Karin is still at the least twice as fast as me.

Once I figure out why, though, I'm going to train my ass off to be the speediest boi around since Minato stole Tobirama's jutsu. 

I'm honestly kind of worried about the speed difference between [Shinobi] and my [Ronin] class, because Karin can kick me twice in the span of time it takes me to kick her once, even with chakra reinforcement running full blast.

I hear Karin yell out in shock and watch as she runs face first into someone whose chest is so large that I can sense their immensity, causing a shiver to run down my spine when I realize just who it is that has breasts big enough to be picked up by my inner eye.

Tsunade. 

Karin just ran face first into Tsunade's tits.

I actually need to save my apprentice, she is now in some very, very real danger.

'[Yoton:Rin]!' I activate one of my more costly jutsu to use and double my speed again, relying on my newly acquired perfect balance to maintain my blistering pace.

I fail to notice the large log laying in the road before me, however, so I trip, tumble and hurl myself face first into the same wondrous valley of flesh and bosom that is Tsunade's cleavage just as her fist is coming down to smack the hell out of Karin.

[-50 Reputation with Tsunade Senju!]

'Fuck.' Was the last thought to cross my mind before I took the chakra enhanced fist that was meant for my apprentice, sending me downwards into the earth with the force of a megaton explosion.

[-26,389 HP!]

[Warning! You have gained the 《Broken Spinal Column》 debuff!]

The pain is well and beyond worse than anything I've ever felt in my life, but [Yoton:Rin] and [Gamer's Body] seemed to be enough to keep me alive through what should have been a very fatal attack.

"Sensei!" I can hear Karin cry out, though I hardly pay her any mind as I instead focus on trying to fix my severed spine, which is killing me something fierce pain-wise.

"Who the fuck are you two creeps?!" Tsunade shouts angrily before shaking her fist in the direction I was in, face down in the crater at her feet. "Who just throws themselves face first into someone's chest like that?!"

While Karin starts babbling off nonsense while holding one of her arms out for me to bite, I instead pull my head out of its resting place within the Nemui-shaped crater I've found myself in and respond to Tsunade's legitimate questions.

"And I'll fucking do it again, those things deserve to be worshipped!" I spit out a mouth full of clay before responding, ignoring the taste of iron and grass that persists. "Fuck, did you have to break my spine? It's going to be an hour before I can fix this!"

"And I'll fucking do it again you little shit! Who do you think you are?! And why the fuck are you dressed in all pink?!"

And that's how Karin and I met Tsunade Senju of the Densetsu no Sannin. 

《PB》

I have no idea why, but Tsunade and Shizune had opted to actually hang out until I had rebuilt my spine from scratch, probably just to see if I could if I had to hazard a guess. 

[+100 Reputation with Tsunade Senju!]

"Well damn, you actually did it. I thought you were bullshitting me, but I guess that explains why you were so casual about having your spine shattered in three different locations." Tsunade drawls with what can only be described as sarcasm dripping from her voice, "where'd you learn to heal like that, brat?"

Called it.

"Lady, I'm a decade too old for you to be calling me a brat." I groan after cracking my neck wearily and double checking my handiwork with a quick check of my stats. "My apprentice taught me how to use healing jutsu yesterday, if you must know."

It's not like admitting that can hurt me in any way, right? Could that information be used against me somehow?

Damn, I really need to remind myself to never tell ninja's a damn thing about myself.

"Bullshit, do you think I was born yesterday or something?!" Tsunade questions almost angrily as she snags me up by the back of my belt and hoists me up until I'm face to face with her.

"Nah, your chest is way too big for you to be so young, unless you're a clone or something." I reply with a calmness that I didn't feel in my soul. "I'm being serious, I learned Shosen no Jutsu just yesterday. What's the big deal, lady? You like beating up cripples in your spare time or something? Is this your kink? Do I make you randy?"

"He's not lying…" Karin admits in a small voice, which only Shizune seemed to acknowledge with a comforting shoulder pat while Tsunade ignores her completely in favor of delivering yet another smack to my ass with an open hand.

[-8625 HP!]

"I'm going to continue beating your blind ass until you start being more honest!" Tsunade retorts, and it's only now that I realize I can smell the rather strong scent of alcohol on her breath.

"Ugh, look, Granny, I'm a- Ah! Quit fucking spanking me already you weirdo! My ass!"

[-8625 HP!]

Damn, she did the exact same amount of damage twice in a row? Just how good is this woman's muscle control?!

Instead of responding to the woman currently holding me hostage by the belt keeping my pants on, I decide to instead use a bit of metaknowledge here.

"Look, how about a bet?" I question, which causes Tsunade to pull me even closer to her face than before.

"A bet, you say?" Tsunade questions with barely concealed interest, "what are your terms?"

"I bet I can learn any medical technique you have that doesn't require the use of hand seals and Fuinjutsu in less than five minutes. If I win, you teach my apprentice and I how to be proper medics for the next few days. If I lose, you can take all of my money and I'll even teach you how to do… this."

I hold out one of my hands after stealthily withdrawing a seed from my inventory and flood said seed in my palm with Haton Chakra, causing a rose to begin to grow rapidly until it eventually buds and then blooms. 

That seemed to catch Tsunade's attention.

"Did… you just…" The buxom woman currently holding me hostage seemed to stumble over her words after accepting the rose I was holding out for her to take.

"Nifty, yeah?" I question while nudging her in the ribs with my elbow, causing her to nearly drop me as she opts to instead study the rose in her hand every which way before slowly nodding her head in acceptance.

"Brat, what's your name?" Tsunade asks after another beat of silence passes between us, the chatter of Shizune and Karin being ignored by the both of us at this point.

"Nemui Uzumaki, at your service… Granny Senju-"

[-8625 HP!]

"-Gah! Fucking stop hitting me already!"

Did I ever mention that getting hit by Tsunade feels like getting hit by a whole truck? Because getting hit by Tsunade, even on my ass, was easily enough to make my vision white out from the pain alone.

"Call me granny one more damn time and I'm going to shove my entire arm up your ass and start using your uvula as a speed ball, you little pervert!" Tsunade growls, causing me to clench my cheeks before nodding quickly in acceptance.

Jeez, this psycho really just threatened to fist a complete stranger. Apparently Tsunade gives less of a fuck than I do.

"Good!" Tsunade releases her hold on my belt before crossing her arms and tapping her right foot rapidly, though I'm not able to guess what she's thinking about due to being unable to see her expression.

Wait…

'[Observe]'

Name: Tsunade Senju

Level: ???

…

…

Yeah, I don't know what I was expecting.

Did I mention that this lady is absolutely terrifying? 

Like, holy fuck. She's in the triple digits as far as levels go.

What's crazy is I have no idea if her triple digits are in the one hundred range, or the five hundred range, though it would have to be closer to the former, right?

… Right?

I shake away my doubts around the same time Tsunade decides on a technique to offer up for our bet.

"Alright brat, do you know the Chakra Scalpel technique?" Tsunade eventually questions, to which I reply in the negative with a shake of my head. "Alright… wait, how the hell am I supposed to teach you if you can't even see what I'm trying to show you?"

"Let me worry about that, Lady. A bet is a bet, yeah?" I answer her question with a question, causing her to grumble something under her breath before shrugging her shoulders hard enough to make her chest visibly bounce, much to my delight and apparently Karin's dismay, if the way my apprentice is looking at Tsunade's chest meant what I thought it did.

Poor Karin, I guess she's worried she'll remain flat forever. Oh well, that's her problem, I don't feel like addressing that subject whatsoever with her.

Tsunade snorts again in a very unladylike fashion before holding out her left hand and allowing medical Chakra to begin coating it from her wrist to the tips of her fingers.

"What you need to do is gather medical Chakra into your hand and begin to flatten it until it's no thicker than a few millimeters wide extending from the tips of your fingers." Tsunade explains with what sounds like smugness in her tone, which tells me enough to probably force-create the skill using the System, but not enough should I have been a normal person.

Yeah, I see your game here, Tsunade, blind or not.

So, I do as she says, using the strange aura of dark blue surrounding her hand as a visual guide as I summon medical Chakra into my palm and begin coaxing it into the proper shape.

Three minutes and a thousand points of Chakra later and the System finally throws me a bone.

[New skill created!]

[Active] - [Chakra Scalpel] : [After coating their hands in medical Chakra, the user is able to form a scalpel capable of making incisions below the surface layers of skin, minimizing the chances of infection during major surgeries. -(75)cp/s.] [lvl:1] [15/100]

I was ready for the info dump this time and braced myself as theoretical knowledge about safely performing semi-invasive surgeries using my newest and possibly soon to be favorite skill dumps itself directly into my brain.

Oh man, if I can figure out how to form scalpels around my feet, I've just become that much more deadly. 

Nice.

I can practically feel Tsunade's frustration from where I'm standing, and if I didn't know better, I'd think my life was in danger.

Hell, it might just be, you never know with people like the would-be Godaime Hokage.

"Well?" I question after a moment, waving my Chakra covered hand a bit in her direction as if she couldn't already see that I was actually performing the technique.

"That's such bullshit, though! Since when the hell was it possible for an Uzumaki to have good enough control to learn medical jutsu?!" Tsunade suddenly yells in frustration while gripping at her head with both hands. "Bullshit!"

I know, right? 

I love it.

《PB》

So you know how I asked Tsunade to teach me and Karin how to be proper medics?

Apparently she thought that meant giving us both anatomy lessons. Not even the good kind, either, but actual lessons about human anatomy.

By the end of the first day, I was about ready to just call it quits and continue my happy ass on to Nami, but then again…

No, no, it's probably best not to start thinking that way now.

Unless….

Nah.

But, what if?

…

I ignore the budding curiosity blooming in the deepest, darkest recesses of my mind and instead focus on running through the first five basic forms of WTF Taekwondo as a warm up for my nightly exercise regiment. My apprentice and two temporary companions are sitting some three hundred meters away around a nice, cozy campfire, chatting about whatever it is women chat about in their free time.

I currently have thirteen Shadow Clones working on the final Chakra Control exercise I needed to max my control out after Karin had asked Shizune for some advice while Tsunade was busy reaming my ass out, which I should hopefully be done with either tonight or tomorrow night.

Either way, I'll soon have perfect control over my Chakra, which is just absurd for an Uzumaki, so Tsunade tells me.

[Leaf Floating] is not something I would have thought of in a million years, and I almost ran up and kissed Shizune for being kind enough to impart that information with my apprentice. Seriously, that woman deserves a cookie and a foot massage for that.

After a few hours of running through the basic forms and finishing my nightly regiment of physical conditioning, I decided that I'd pushed myself hard enough and began dispelling my clones one by one.

Upon the last Shadow Clone being dispelled, I received the notification I'd been waiting for the moment I began training in control exercises.

[Congratulations! You have achieved perfect control of your Chakra!]

[Please claim your reward!]

[Y]

Finally, my hard work is really starting to pay off. I hesitate for all of a moment to accept whatever reward is being offered by the System.

[Perk List Updated!]

I feel the immediate difference between now and a few moments ago as my Chakra supply goes from zero to one hundred in an instant. The change is so much that I feel my body straining to contain the vital energies circulating through me before it seemingly calms itself on its own with no input from myself.

"What the fuck?" I can't help but question aloud before deciding that it would be in my best interest to figure out what the hell just happened, and quick.

'[Perks]'

[Perks]

[Uzumaki Lineage] : [Due to the nature of your Bloodline and Chakra, you have been granted a strong source of Vitality. +20 base VIT, +20 base END, +3 VIT/+1 END per level, +20% exp towards all [Fuinjutsu] skills.]

[One With Nature] : [Due to the peaceful nature of your Chakra, you are able to learn all [Sage] class skills at an accelerated rate. +20% exp towards all [Sage] skills, +15 base WIS, +5CP/s when in a dense natural environment, unlocks [Natural Sense].]

[Well of Life] : [Due to your deep connection with the Vital Source that dwells within all physical objects and beings, you now passively draw in and release ambient life energies as easily as your heart beats in your chest. +5HP/s, +2CP/s, +10 base VIT, +5 base END, unlocks [Vital Sense].]

[Fighting Spirit] : [By reaching deep within yourself and dragging your Vital Source to the surface, your body has broken past normal mortal limitations. +20% exp earned in combat, +20% chance of random enemy encounters, +5 base VIT, +5 base END, +10 base STR, +5 base DEX.]

[Chakra Reactor] : [By attaining perfect control of the powerful energy within you, your body has gained the ability to produce Chakra at a rate usually reserved for the Biju. +200% Chakra Capacity, +10 base VIT, +10 base INT.]

[For reaching 50 INT, you have been awarded with a random skill from the INT category!]

[New skill unlocked!]

[Active] : [Psychometry] - [An extrasensory ability that allows the user to perceive the residual information or history of an object or person through physical contact. -200cp.] [lvl:1] [1/100]

After a few moments spent forcefully picking my jaw off the floor from my shock at the sudden info dump that I was completely unprepared for, I nearly started jumping for joy.

Holy crap, that's a good perk! 

That's a really good perk!

And that skill! Yes!

'[Stats]'

[Stats]

Name: Nemui

Level: 29 [2,851/17,449]

Race: Human

Clan: [Uzumaki]

Class: [Ronin],[Sage],[?]

HP: 108,460/108,460 [+9/s]

CP: 19,358/19,358 [+10/s]/[-20/5s]

CC: 100%

VIT: 85

END: 44

STR: 44

DEX: 25

INT: 50

WIS: 29

LUK: 20

Ryo: 100

SP Available: 55

Oh baby, look at those stats!

I'm actually starting to think I'm addicted to these gains, because as soon as my excitement came, it left when I realized Tsunade's stats most likely completely dwarf mine, let alone my soon to be future opponents like Obito.

Oh well, no sense in letting the future bother me now, after all. For now, I wish I had some alcohol to celebrate my achievement properly.

"Hey, brat!" I hear Tsunade shout in my direction as I finally pay attention to my surroundings enough to spot her entering my clearing, "why did I just sense your Chakra practically double?"

Oh, shit. Tsunade is a sensor?

That makes sense, but shouldn't she be more focused on getting drunk or something?

I'm tempted to use her fear of blood to somehow make her go away, but at the same time, the outline of her breasts have me pretty damn distracted again.

Like, damn, dude, you'd understand if you got a face full of them like I did, alright?

"Well?" Tsunade questions again impatiently, causing me to fumble with an excuse in my head for another moment before just shrugging my shoulders.

"It's an Uzumaki thing." I retort plainly, allowing [Gamer's Mind] to keep myself perfectly blank in what could have been the perfect poker face. "I don't think you can do what I just did, honestly."

Because she couldn't, obviously.

"Is that a challenge I hear, Uzumaki?" Tsunade steps forward aggressively, though I'm hardly as intimidated as I probably should be about now.

Once more, super distracted by this glorious view, because I can see them from any angle I check.

"Nah, it's literally an Uzumaki thing, you're a Senju. Cousins or no, we just don't function the same way." I answered distractedly before I suddenly found Tsunade's fist an inch from my face, forcing me to suppress my desire to slap it away as I threw myself back.

It happened in an instant.

One second her fist is extended, the next her index finger is colliding with my forehead, causing my energy sensory abilities to cross wires temporarily as my brain rattled in my skull.

I'm sent tumbling head over heels backwards and bounce across the surface of the clearing I was training in like a river stone. I'm eventually able to use my newly acquired perfect balance to right myself and a quick application of surface clinging with my hands and feet alike to slow my backward momentum.

Then Tsunade appeared before me again, her right leg stretched back for a forward punting kick that will probably put me somewhere in the stratosphere if it lands.

[Quest Alert!]

[If you can dodge Tsunade, you can dodge anything!]

[Tsunade Senju has taken your snark as a challenge! Survive for (03:00)!]

[Rewards: 20,000 exp, (+???), ]

[Accept?]

[Y]

I accept the quest mentally while forcing my Chakra into the air around me to begin compressing it as tightly as I can using a modified Air Walking. The platform slams into my side and launches me to my left just in time to dodge the incoming attack, but not quickly enough for me to dodge the aftershock of displaced air following in the wake of her attack.

[-2,674 HP!]

I roll with the force from the blow and ignore the pain in my side in favor of quickly creating another wall of compressed air beneath my feet as I right my balance once again, stopping myself from being thrown around like a ping pong ball and keeping me just out of Tsunade's immediate range.

Or I thought I was, until she appears in front of me again in a burst of speed that I couldn't hope to match at my current skill level.

'Fu-'

My thoughts are forced to take a back seat as I release the platform beneath my feet, causing me to drop quickly enough to avoid the spinning kick that would have ripped my head from my shoulders.

[-2,892 HP!]

The aftershock is enough to send me spinning through the air much like it did moments before, but I'm able to correct myself again with an improvised blending of leaf floating and air walking.

That is, I began to push massive amounts of Chakra from my body against a semi solid surface of compressed air, giving me a burst of kinetic energy strong enough to stabilize my… flight?

Holy shit I just taught myself how to fly!

[New Skill Created!]

I dismiss the notification with a quick mental shout that most certainly wasn't girly as hell and use my newly discovered ability of flight thanks to the data dump that happens with all new skills to do a quick barrel roll before aiming my body upwards, dodging yet another attack that was far too close for comfort.

Holy shit I'm flying!

Holy shit is flying Chakra intensive!

[-3,519 HP!]

I can tell from the damage I'm incurring that Tsunade is only getting madder and madder, but she's just going to have to deal with that in a way that doesn't involve crippling me again.

I can fly!

If it wasn't for the fact that my life was currently in jeopardy, I would have dipped off and took my place in the heavens where I belong, but fortunately and unfortunately alike, I was currently dealing with a very angry, very bombastic blond.

And here I thought I didn't think with my dick, this is just crazy!

But so are those honkers, and I'm willing to die for the cause I have in mind.

The cause, you ask?

Seducing Tsunade, of course!

Despite my wandering mind, I had sense enough to dodge her fifth attack as well, but my ballsy ass did something different this time instead of just dodging.

Oh no, I did something better.

I started flirting.

"You know, if you wanted an excuse to just feel up on someone, I'm sure we could have come to an agreement that ends much better for the both of us than this weak foreplay, Tsunade!" I say while angling my body horizontally with the earth to dodge a low kick aimed near my stomach, my mouth an inch from her ear before I am forced to drop in altitude once more as she tries to take a second strike at me before falling. 

"In your dreams!" I hear Tsunade shout in frustration on the way down, though my Inner Eye is fine tuned enough to pick up the fluctuations in her Chakra that denote her embarrassment that were gone as quickly as they came.

Oh my, was my cause noble or what?

So, for the next few attacks launched at me, I would tease and taunt my temporary opponent with offers of foot massages, back rubs and a one way trip to Nirvana on the Uzumaki Express.

Needless to say, I incurred far more damage in these last few attacks than before, but the rate at which she was throwing them was beginning to slow down.

Until they didn't, and she wrapped me in a rear choke from behind while her beautifully sculpted thighs locked around my legs and left me at her not so tender mercy.

"Is it too late to say that you have beautiful eyes?" I question over my shoulder, only for her to laugh coldly in amusement before somehow negating my ability to move with a zap of Chakra of some sorts to the base of my neck.

Fuck, again with the spine?

We began to drop in altitude quickly, and the closer we came to impact, the more worried I became, mainly due to the fact she was angling herself to use my body as both a shield and pillow with both knees resting on my lower back.

This woman is going to break me, and I can't move a muscle to stop it.

But I can still use my Chakra, which is fine enough with me for now. I create a platform beneath my abdomen and torso and do my best to try and slow our descent. I broke through the first few platforms and incurred another few thousand points in damage, but I was able to break the inertia behind my assisted descent just enough to prevent the fall from killing me outright.

[-19,269 HP!]

[You have gained the 《Dislocated Spinal Column》 debuff!]

[You have gained the 《Broken Pelvis》 debuff!]

"Mother fucker, I know I said I wanted you to break my pelvis, but this isn't what I had in mind!" I say rather calmly for a man that just had his spine damaged, my sensory abilities once more crossing wires and flickering solid white and then black before returning to normality. 

It's not like I could feel it or anything thanks to whatever Tsunade did to confuse my muscles.

Shouldn't [Gamer's Body] have negated paralysis? 

No, I guess not, it just doesn't treat my wounds in a life threatening fashion until my HP hits zero. Apparently broken bones are not something I can just ignore yet. 

"Aww, but I thought you said you wanted to have some fun! Or are you all bark and no bite like the rest of the men in this rotten world?" Tsunade questions in a sickly sweet tone as she sits down and places all of her weight on where my spine was recently damaged.

"No, I would just much prefer having you sitting on my face right now is all." I answer back as I feel my muscles slowly seem to reconnect to my synaptic pathways in my brain and spine. "Hmm, gotta say, this is still a nice experience either way. If you're going to kill me, can I make the request for it to be via suffocation, if you know what I mean?"

I meant it, too, because I could now feel both of Tsunade's breasts pressing into my back now that my muscles were starting to work properly again.

If she's going to kill me, though, the least she can do is send me back to the void with something to remember my killer by, since I can't exactly stop her right now even if I wanted to.

[Quest complete!]

[If you can dodge Tsunade, you can dodge anything!]

[Rewards: +20,000 exp, (+Bonus Reputation with Tsunade Senju), !]

[Level Up!]

[+250 Reputation with Tsunade Senju!]

"O-oh, really." Tsunade seems to be shocked into silence for a moment as her Chakra once more gains a hue that indicates embarrassment, "Do you want to know what happened to the last man to say that to me?"

I can feel her breath on my neck as she leans into my ear much like I did her what feels like forever ago, but in turn, so do I smell the alcohol on her breath.

Oh, damn, I didn't realize she had drank that much already. Was she chugging that sake or something? When the hell did she have a chance to get drunk?

"Yes, yes I do want to know." I say with little shame, knowing that what's going to happen in the next few seconds was a toss up between something amazing, or something incredibly painful.

"I made him my bitch."

…

"-but then he went and died on me. You won't, though, will you my little U-Zu-Ma-Ki?"

…

…

Oh hell yes!

I go to respond once more after regaining my ability to speak from having my mind blown by this crazy woman, but then I feel Tsunade's body go basically limp against my back and her full weight coming to a rest against me.

Soon, light snoring fills my ears due to the proximity of her face to mine, and I'm left unable to move, with a broken pelvis and dislocated spine, in a crater molded perfectly to my body and a drunken Sannin passed out on top of me.

Oh yeah, man. This is the life.

"Karin! Karin get your scrawny ass over here!" I call out to my apprentice through the voice messaging function of our party, though it seems she must have already passed out because she didn't come to rescue me.

At all.

I was left in that crater for over an entire hour acting as Tsunade's teddy bear against my will, and let me tell you, that woman has a fucking mean grip.

After about an hour and a half and a few broken ribs later, I finally wrestled free from the monster formerly known to me as Tsunade and did my best to carry her back to the campfire that her student was still tending while seemingly awaiting our return.

"Oh, you're still able to walk." Shizune sounds astonished to see me stumble into the clearing the girls claimed as their own, her Chakra signature reflecting her shock as it fluctuates wildly for a moment. "After what Shishio told your apprentice what she was going to do, I'm surprised you aren't broken in half in a crater somewhere."

"... I don't even know what to say to that." I admit honestly before setting Tsunade into the spare sleeping bag Shizune roughly gestured towards while scarcely dodging a grab that would have pulled me into Tsunade's bust once more.

"Nice dodge, I see she taught you well." The Sannin's apprentice comments with what sounds like humor coloring her tone, "Do you mind if I give you some advice, though?"

I don't verbally respond, instead gesturing for Shizune to continue while sitting down on the edge of Karin's stolen bed, my concentration being mostly diverted to flooding my body with medical Chakra to boost my recovery speed by a few points a second while I wait.

It takes Shizune a few moments to actually gather her wits enough to say what she means to say, and I can actively sense her trepidation through her Chakra alone.

"Every person in Tsunade's so far life has either left her behind, broken her trust or… well, died. If you have any intentions towards her, absolutely any at all… please, just be careful." Shizune trails off and a thick, nigh oppressive silence descends between us before I nodded in the affirmative to show Shizune I heard her loud and clear.

After the past hour I've had, any interest I had in sleeping with Tsunade went right out the window.

Until I gain a few dozen more levels under my belt, that is, then her ass was mine, the risk of shattered skeletons and ruptured organs be damned.

In the meantime, I should really start working on my endurance stat more, just to be sure.


	6. Chapter 6

Playing Blind

Chapter 6,

I do not own anything pertaining to either Naruto or The Gamer.

《PB》

The second day that Karin and I were under Tsunade's tutelage was much like the first, mostly spent with her beating human anatomy into our heads while demanding we memorize hospital vernacular.

I can't be bothered to use mumbo jumbo jargon when I can speak in layman's terms, thank you very much. 

Beyond the anatomy lessons and her attempt to teach me bedside manners, though, which unsurprisingly helped me power level my [Medical Mastery] skill to level seventeen from the classroom style lessons alone, we were able to receive actual hands on training in jump starting the hearts of recently deceased fish while also learning to flush poisons from someone's system through extraction via [Shosen no Jutsu] and a bowl of water.

So, I wish I knew that [Shosen no Jutsu] was basically the only useful medical skill besides [Chakra Scalpels] that doesn't require the use of Fuinjutsu, elemental manipulations that I don't know yet or hand seals that are beyond me due to class restrictions. 

This is both good and bad because it meant I was going to have to drip my toes into multiple fields to get a full appreciation of the medical arts, but at the same time, required me to actually get good with just one skill alone in order to save lives.

I can mend skeletal and tissue damage alike with [Shosen no Jutsu] now, but I've yet to learn how to treat diseases or minor bacterial and viral infections. Tsunade tells me it would take months for me to reach that level of precision, but then again, she doesn't understand how much of an edge that I have when it comes to learning thanks to the System.

She also doesn't understand that when I say I have perfect control, I literally mean perfect.

Not an iota of my energy is wasted on my skills now, though each skill still requires proper grinding to lower their default costs.

After our second day of medical lessons came to an end, Karin and I were left to our own devices while Shizune and Tsunade took off towards Tanzaku-Gai for more alcohol, which was just fine with me.

I needed some time to consult Karin about a few of my new found abilities without prying ears, obviously. While I like Tsunade and Shizune, and would bed both in an instant should the opportunity provide itself with minimal risks to my health, I'm unable to bring myself to trust them the same way I'm willing to trust Karin yet.

A ninja is a ninja, you know? Who in their right mind would willingly trust someone whose job description ranges from state sponsored assassin to agent provocateur, depending on who is paying them?

That being said, I am more than willing to make friends, but it's best I keep at least some cards held closely to my chest in relation to my loose friendship with Tsunade and her apprentice.

"So, Karin, would you believe me if I told you I can fly now?" I question after blocking a high kick aimed at my temple with a high guard block before responding with a low sweep of her supporting leg.

Karin backflips over my low sweep and snaps off a reverse axe kick to my chin that nearly removes a few of my teeth before responding after landing soundly. "You know what? Yes I would."

I shake off the few hundred points in damage easy enough, though I know someone with normal vitality levels would probably be regretting their decisions right about now. 

Karin is turning out to be exceptionally good at this whole kicking the shit out of people thing. I can't help but be proud of that, even though she was currently putting me through my paces with relative ease.

To reciprocate, I obviously launched a hurricane kick aimed at her midsection using my new favorite skill [Levitation] to supplement it, resulting in me crossing a distance I couldn't hope to jump across even a day prior to this sparring session.

[New Skill Created!]

I dismissed the pop up window telling me I somehow recreated [Dynamic Entry] without meaning to just as I caught my apprentice in the stomach with a kinetic energy rich blow that sent her stumbling backwards quite a few feet.

That was the first time I've been able to catch my apprentice off guard with an attack to date, and we've been sparring daily for almost two weeks now.

"What the hell was that?!" Karin questions incredulously after catching her breath, visibly shaken by my sudden ability to launch kicks that defy conventional laws of gravity and conservation of momentum alike, "Okay, we're not sparring again until you teach me how to do that, that's bullshit."

"Oh no you little shit, your speedy ass has been dancing around me for an entire week now, you're going to let me have this for at least a week before I teach it to you!" I respond while throwing my hands up in defeat at Karin's refusal to continue the fight, "Alright, fine, I'll teach you after you fully max your control out, okay? Quit pouting, your Chakra is making me feel bad and I don't like it!"

It turns out that she had maxed out her control before I did, though she didn't seem to have gained the Chakra Reactor perk from it like I did.

I finally broke down and exchanged my understanding of [Levitation] in exchange for what little Karin has learned about [Suiton Chakra Manipulation], which may as well have been a worthless trade off if not for the fact that I am now one step closer to figuring out Mokuton.

[Passive] - [Suiton Chakra Manipulation] : ['To reach Nirvana, first you must learn to Flow.' +1% strength of all [Suiton] skills, -1% cost of all [Suiton] skills.] [lvl:1] [15/100]

The info dump that came with this particular skill was fascinating to dissect, as it was so theoretically similar to air walking in some sense, but so different in another.

The new manipulation skill gave me quite a bit to think about. For instance, would it be possible to use my blood as a weapon once I manage to master liquid manipulation enough? 

Because if so, I have far much more blood to work with than normal people do, considering I can basically bleed indefinitely thanks to a combination of my ridiculous health pool, my regeneration and my budding medical abilities alike. 

What about channeling healing chakra using water as a medium? That should also be possible, right?

Eat your heart out, Aerith, I'm going to reverse engineer your healing rain nonsense if it's the last thing I do!

I eventually shelf my postulations and instead focus on actual, tangible uses for my newest elemental manipulation skills, such as the ability to condense the various loose atmospheric gases surrounding me into water, the ability to draw moisture from green leaves and other types of plant matter and the ability to convert my Chakra to lean towards the Suiton element.

Suiton Chakra is weird in that it's not wet, per say, but flows like it should be. 

I can't think of a proper, scientific way to explain it, but that could just be due to the fact that I haven't even begun to experiment yet, since I have so many other skills I need to be working on, not to mention my stats.

Speaking of stats, I'm getting pretty sick of just sitting on my points when I have two different stats just shy of granting me some new perks for reaching fifty points. Let's fix that.

'[Stats]'

[Stats]

Name: Nemui

Level: 30 [5,402/19,194]

Race: Human

Clan: [Uzumaki]

Class: [Ronin],[Sage],[?]

HP: 127,500/127,500 [+9/s]

CP: 19,560/19,560 [+10/s]/[-20/5s]

CC: 100%

VIT: 85

END: 50

STR: 50

DEX: 25

INT: 50

WIS: 29

LUK: 20

Ryo: 100

SP Available: 49

I finish distributing my points and continue questioning what sort of build I'm supposed to be going for here before accepting, only to be hit with a wave of instant regret as I feel the abrupt changes to my musculature systems strain my body enough in multiple places to cause my skeleton to creak ominously.

My muscles instantly contract and I feel my skin crawl as new sinew wraps and binds itself in place just beneath the surface.

[For reaching 50 END, you have been awarded with a random skill from the END category!]

[Perk List Updated!]

[For reaching 50 STR, you have been awarded with a random skill from the STR category!]

[Perk List Updated!]

I can't help but collapse backwards upon the earth and pant rapidly as I feel my body begin to tear itself apart and rebuild itself more efficiently than I thought possible. It's only thanks to Tsunade beating anatomy into my head at a disturbing rate that I even slightly understood what was happening to me or what purpose these changes even served.

Somehow, either strength or endurance just gave me an enhanced physiology based perk for reaching fifty points.

I bring up my perk list after another few minutes of regaining my breath, as having my body suddenly tear itself to shreds beneath the surface of my flesh took far more out of me than I thought possible. One quick scan later and I'm left reeling by the new possibilities opened up to me now.

[Giant's Might] : [Due to the nature of your adaptive physiology, you are now able to withstand and wield up to 300% of your base kinetic potential safely.]

[Enduring Body] : [Due to the nature of your adaptive physiology, you have gained a passive 20% resistance to crippling injuries.]

Okay, these perks are worded pretty strangely, and I'm starting to suspect that my [Fighting Spirit] perk has something to do with it.

It's either that, or perhaps something to do with the fact that I'm an Uzumaki?

From what I can gather, [Giant's Might] essentially allows me to put up to three times the amount of force behind my blows that I usually can without risking injury, I think?

Or does it mean that I'm three times as strong as I was just a few minutes ago, even if my stats have barely changed enough to constitute said difference?

[Enduring Body] is pretty simple to understand, but [Giant's Might] is going to require a bit of experimentation, me thinks.

Time to go kick the shit out of some trees!

《PB》

It was the latter option.

I can hit three freaking times as hard as I previously could before gaining [Giant's Might].

At forty four strength, I was capable of splintering the bark of trees with my fists, elbows, shins, knees and feet. Now, I can kick young, non-Mokuton trees down with raw strength alone after about five blows and cleave straight through them while reinforcing myself with [Yoton:Rin] with just one.

So that's how Tsunade and Shizune found us when they finally returned from their alcohol run a few hours later, with me standing over the corpses of many recently felled trees kicked down long before their prime and Karin flying around like a child high on a few lines of pixie dust and an entire twelve pack of energy drinks.

I'm really jealous of that chaotic Kyle energy that Karin is able to channel so easily, honestly.

"For a man that can grow plants willy nilly from seeds, you sure are acting like those trees did something to offend you." Tsunade says with mirth as she strolls up to me with a confident swagger that I could appreciate from eight hundred and fifty meters away, "Huh, some of these trees were taken down easily while others look to have been pulped, are you training muscle control or something?"

No, but now that she mentions it, I am going to have to practice some sort of restraint in my spars with Karin from now on.

"Nah, not right now anyway, just working on lethality right now if I had to describe it." I reply easily while reaching down to brush to stray tree bark from my... hot pink pants.

Fuck, I never got those replacement clothes from Karin.

I flirted with Tsunade while wearing hot pink and she just went with it.

I can't tell who is mad here, me or her.

"I see." The only female Sannin murmurs in a way that almost sounds like she's reminiscing. "Do you mind if we chat for a bit, or do you want to keep decimating the local firwood population?"

I consider asking her to give me a little while to finish getting used to my newly enhanced strength, but dismiss the consideration as soon as it came when I noticed something.

She had the rose I had given her yesterday tucked neatly behind her ear and held in place by her hair, my dense Haton Chakra keeping it alive and healthy despite lacking proper roots or nutrients.

I know it probably means nothing and she simply just thinks it's pretty, but it feels nice to think she liked it enough to keep it close.

Either that, or she was waiting to dissect it and figure out how it ticked later.

"Sure, I can always make time for you." I reply with little hesitation, causing her to nod firmly before gesturing over her shoulder with her head as an indication to follow.

I have a feeling I already know what she wants to talk about, since it's what got her to even agree to our dumb little wager yesterday, and is the source of the dethorned rose currently tucked behind her ear.

I don't particularly like the idea of even somewhat explaining my ability to use vegetation release, but if there was anyone I ever had to discuss it with, I could think of only two people who would benefit from the knowledge immediately and six or seven who would benefit in the long term.

Thankfully, or sadly, Tsunade was one of the two I was willing to discuss this subject with, even if only vaguely.

Mostly I just want to pick her brain about Mokuton and her lack of ability to use it, and this seems like my best opportunity to do so.

As I take my place across from Tsunade at the campfire, she tosses me a bottle I can only barely sense thanks to [Vital Sense] outlining the bottle in white on a strange backdrop of mostly black.

"I don't know if you're even old enough to be drinking, let alone flirting with a woman my age, but I have a feeling we both are going to need something to loosen our lips enough to talk properly." Tsunade says after a few moments of me studying the bottle in confusion as best I can before pulling the cork and verifying the contents within as, predictably, sake.

Ah, so she must think I'm some horny bastard who'll tell her all of my dirty secrets if she gets me drunk and flirts a little.

Too bad for her she's only right about the horny bastard part.

Plus there's the fact that I know this buxom blond has no qualms with poisoning people's drinks, as she once would Jiraiya in the very town we find ourselves sitting outside of this very moment in a future I refuse to allow to come to pass.

Well, fuck. I can't exactly fake drinking, as I can't tell how closely she'll be studying me as I do so, since I can't see her eyes and all properly.

Looks like she's backed me into a corner here, so I offer her a cheers before downing a shot of the surprisingly pleasant sake that seems to have been flavored with cherry blossoms or something equally as flowery. 

When no notification appears in my periphery informing me that I've been poisoned, I relax almost noticeably and gesture for Tsunade to start with a wave of my hand incher direction.

The ball is in your court, Tsunade, let's play some mind games.

"I can hazard a guess and say you already know what this is about, but if you are actually as slow as you act, then I'll spell it out for you. I want to know how you grew this rose like you did, and why it refuses to wilt, even after I tried microwaving it." Tsunade immediately rains on my parade by being the bold bull I knew she was at heart and side stepping any and all mental gymnastics I could have gone through to dance around her questions.

Damn, she gets straight down to the point, doesn't she?

I honestly don't know what I was expecting, but this right here makes me like this woman all that much more. I can respect someone who ignores social norms and asks the hard questions.

I mean, who really just comes out and asks someone to explain how their abilities work in this world? Usually ninja just kill first and force the dead bodies to give up all of their secrets irregardless.

"Well, it's not easy to explain without very, very specific knowledge, let alone the skill set involved, but I'll tell you what… how about a deal?" I hesitate only long enough for Tsunade to gesture for me to continue, "I will tell you what I know about chakra natures and my theories behind your grandfather's Mokuton, but in return, I would like a bit of help with figuring out Doton Chakra manipulation. If you can't tell, I can't exactly just read about it from a book, and Karin doesn't know anything about earth style techniques."

"Hmm.. we talk first, and if I'm satisfied, I'll teach you what I know about earth style, which is probably much less than you're hoping it will be." Tsunade agrees after taking a gulp of sake and pondering my proposal for a few moments.

Good. This is good. I can bullshit my way through this without really revealing anything incriminating, easy.

"First, I can hazard a few guesses about Mokuton, but I'll give you my two leading theories and have you decide what you think. First, Hashirama was a Sage, much like your two teammates Jiraiya and Orochimaru." I start off with the most obvious information first to build my case, since it's widely known that Hashirama Senju was a Sage, somehow. "Second is the composition of Mokuton. I've heard of this guy, I think he was in the land of rivers, that could mix Suiton and Doton Chakra, but get this, it made mud."

Tsunade seemed mostly nonplussed by my explanation, so now it was time to lay down the big facts.

"Now, what on this planet produces natural energy? Plants are certainly dense with it, right? So, here's where my theory is going… Hashirama didn't summon dead wood with Mokuton. Hashirama could create living, functioning tree's that defy all logic, and are still around to this very day. Living trees, Tsunade." I reach into my pocket and access my inventory, selecting a variety of seeds from flowers to vegetables before withdrawing my hand and showing them to Tsunade. "What I do is different from what Hashirama likely did in that when I grow plants from seeds, I'm feeding them my life energy."

That was complete vullshit and I knew it, but I didn't want anyone in this world to know I'm a Sage just yet due to the rough master plan I was working on still. I absolutely needed the element of surprise to blitz down a few people on my list of those who needed to die, Like Obito, Zetsu, Kabuto and Danzo. 

"That… but, what you're saying is that Mokuton isn't actually a Kekkai Genkai?" Tsunade tilts her head to the side as she mulls what I've said so far over until she seems to catch on to both of my theories at once. "Mokuton isn't a Kekkai Genkai, it's a Kekkai Tota, using their Yoton or natural energy as the third element."

I knew she would catch on quickly.

"Yes, and I think that's also how I think Mokuton could subdue a Biju, if it requires natural energy of course. Like I said, I can't say for sure, but I've got a pretty good idea on how Chakra blends when you throw certain elements together, and last time I checked, it takes more than just water and earth to make a tree, it requires life." I finish explaining my theories and take another swig of my drink to wet my whistle after talking so much at once, "That's all I've got, unless you have other ideas you want to bounce around."

Thankfully, I seem to have shocked Tsunade into submission for the night with my galaxy brain levels of logic, so I stand and let the seeds in my palm hit the ground before feeding them enough Haton Chakra to bloom behind me as I walk away for a bit of theatrical fun.

Some people cause the grass to wilt when they walk, but I'll be damned if I don't make it grow.

[+100 Reputation with Tsunade Senju!]

Oh yeah, that's the stuff.

《PB》

I didn't sleep for the rest of the night after blowing my mental load all over Tsunade's forehead like that, instead opting to focus on cleaning up my skill list and figuring out which ones I should actually be focusing on for the immediate future, and those that would need to take a back seat until I can spam Shadow Clones in larger numbers.

I think I'm starting to plateau in my strength training, as a thousand pushups in a row didn't grant me a single natural point like it should have, so I went back to the drawing board for inspiration.

If I can't work on my strength using exercise until I get my hands on some weights like Gai's or Lee's, I need to start devoting that time towards something I can work on, meaning endurance and dexterity.

Now, since I gain a point in endurance per level thanks to being an Uzumaki, I should probably start focusing on my weakest stat, which is dexterity. The only problem with this is that I have no idea how to actually train in that particular area off the top of my head except for maybe running sprints, duck walks, mountain climbers or exercises similar in nature.

It's not like I'm unfamiliar with working out, even in my past life, so after about fifteen minutes spent brainstorming, I came up with a regiment that bore fruit within ten minutes.

It's for that reason I finally reached thirty points in dexterity after being awarded five natural points for about eight hours worth of exercise while my now fifteen instead of thirteen Shadow Clones worked on [Chakra Scalpels], [Shosen no Jutsu] and [Suiton Chakra Manipulation] interspersed with [Kuji-Kiri] to keep their Chakra levels topped off.

Sadly, no matter how much I tried, I couldn't give each clone more than five hundred points of Chakra each, meaning that each wave of clones cost me a total of seven thousand five hundred points in Chakra to produce flat out.

'[Stats]'

[Stats]

Name: Nemui

Level: 30 [5,402/19,194]

Race: Human

Clan: [Uzumaki]

Class: [Ronin],[Sage],[?]

HP: 127,500/127,500 [+9/s]

CP: 19,560/19,560 [+10/s]/[-20/5s]

CC: 100%

VIT: 85

END: 50

STR: 50

DEX: 30

INT: 50

WIS: 29

LUK: 20

Ryo: 100

SP Available: 49

At this point, my stats are getting a little to evenly spread for my liking. While I have nothing against quality builds, I think it would be best if I decide on the stats I should focus on and what kind of end game stats I'll need.

I've always been partial to the spellblade styled classes in the various RPGs I've played in the past, since it combined the best of both the warrior classes and wizard classes alike. I remember this one game I used to play, Dungeon Fighter Online, had a swordsman class called Asura that blinded the character and gave them access to skills that shot waves of energy, ice, fire and lightning from their swords… like the Samurai of Tetsu no Kuni.

God damnit.

You mean to tell me I could have been hitting people with blade beams this entire time?

Wait… the sealing chains!

I can have Karin give me the freaking Adamantine Sealing Chains!

I'm getting side tracked here, damn it...

Okay, focus on your build, worry about skills later.

Fine, okay, so spellblades usually focus on intelligence with strength, wisdom and dexterity being their minor stats to work in. This can work for me, since the higher my intelligence points, the higher Chakra reserves will climb due to me gaining three natural points in vitality per level thanks once more to being an Uzumaki.

Alright, so the main stat my spare points should go towards are intelligence and wisdom, since I can obviously grind natural points in strength and dexterity without being forced to spend anything outside of my time.

This works, I like this plan.

Okay, now back to skills!

Why the hell haven't I thought to ask Karin about her chains yet? Hell, what other cool shit am I forgetting about?

…

The fucking Rasengan. 

…

I'm so lucky I can't get mad, or I'd be raging something fierce right now.

Okay, so things to work on immediately, blade beams, the sealing chains and the muhfuggin' Rasengan.

Anything else?

Oh, wait, didn't that quest from Tsunade give me a skill book?

Kami… something? 

I didn't immediately recognize the name, but I was sort of occupied memorizing the feeling of Tsunade's breasts being pressed against my back, so my thoughtlessness can and should be forgiven.

Damn, and here I thought being a [Gamer] would be easy…

Wait, no I didn't, that's a lie and I know it. I knew from day one this was going to be a slogfest of grind after grind.

Oh well, time to do what all [Gamer]'s do best.

Cheat my ass off and steal other people's skills like I'm some kind of filthy Uchiha or something.

Heh, now there's something to be thankful for.

No matter how bad things get, no matter how bleak, at least I'm not an Uchiha.

《PB》

The third and final day Karin and I would share with Tsunade, Shizune and Tonton was spent the same way the first two were, though it was obvious to the both of us that her heart just wasn't in it. 

It seems like my theories were just what Tsunade needed to hear to drive her deep into thought, likely performing the same mental exercises I had put myself through to logic out the nature of the fabled wood release Chakra nature. 

Finally, after spending six more hours on anatomy lessons and practicing our medical techniques on dead or dying fish, Tsunade came through with her end of our bargain the night before and bequeathed upon me the secrets of Doton Chakra and how to properly align my chakra to the earth element.

Finally!

After about ten minutes of suffusing my Chakra into the earth around me and allowing it to 'steep', as it were, I pulled the now slightly flavored Chakra back to me and study the changes in its composition as best I can before finally attempting to replicate the sluggish, almost rigid nature release.

[New skill created!]

[Passive] : [Doton Chakra Manipulation] - ['To reach Nirvana, first you must become Unmovable.', +1% strength of all [Doton] skills, -1% cost of all [Doton] skills.][lvl:1][15/100]

Yes!

Now I have all I need to recreate Mokuton, hopefully!

Holy shit do I hope I don't actually need Hashirama's cells, because let me tell you, I'm gonna be pissed no matter what [Gamer's Mind] tells me.

The question is, though, should I risk experimenting around Tsunade, or should I try to keep this on the down low for now?

Rationally, I should keep it on the down low, because my nindo is 'the less the world knows the better', and showing Tsunade that I can just casually recreate her grandfather's bloodline limit is sure to cause some shit.

Emotionally, I really want to show Tsunade that I'm not full of shit and that my theory was correct. It's also here that I can admit that some small part of me just wants to just show off a bit and flex on the only female Sannin.

Flexing in Tsunade is obviously not a good idea, so I'm back to deciding if it was worth letting the only living Senju left know that her family's legacy lives on in someone besides Tenzo.

Hmm, decisions, decisions…

Finally, after spending an hour ruminating on my options while Karin finishes her own personal training with Shizune in wielding senbon needles, I decide that it would probably help me more than hinder me by sharing with Tsunade, at least this once.

So, with this in mind, I begin to shift my Chakra manually to five parts Doton Chakra, three parts natural energy and two parts Suiton Chakra as my theoretical basis for Mokuton and watch in fascination as the ethereal energy within me gains a brilliant emerald hue.

[New skill created!]

[Passive] : [Mokuton Chakra Manipulation] - ['To reach Nirvana, first you must comprehend Life.', +1% strength of all [Mokuton] skills, -1% cost of all Mokuton skills.][lvl:1][1/100]

Someone better pick up that phone, because I fucking called it!

Yes, yes, yes!

Hell, YES!

No more sleeping under the stars, I can now grow freaking houses from nothing!

Ah, shit, why is Tsunade staring in my direc-

"You've got two seconds to explain yourself." 

Wow, okay, thats… but she…

Has this woman been holding back on me this entire time?

"One second remaining." Tsunade whispers in my ear while laying a heavy hand on my shoulder far too close to my neck for my liking.

"I figured it out, obviously." I drawl while attempting to shrug Tsunade's hand from my shoulder, only for her to clamp down with a grip that I couldn't hope to break, even with [Giant's Might] and [Yoton:Rin] combined. "I'd probably be a lot more willing to teach you if you quit threatening me with bodily harm all the time."

Tsunade doesn't answer right away, instead breathing heavily in my ear rather ominously before I feel her grip around my neck loosen enough for me to actually shrug free and step away from the demanding Kunoichi. 

Good gods above this woman gives me weird cases of scarousal too easily.

"What do you want?" Tsunade finally asks in a very subdued voice while turning her head slightly away from my general direction, "My body? My secrets? What's it going to cost me?"

Uh?

Did she just offer up her body?

No… no.

I'm not going to spoil my first lay in this world with emotional blackmail, no.

"Your friendship, and your silence." I eventually ground out through clenched teeth as I suppress the large portion of me that is disappointed in my decision, "you have to promise me that you will tell no one, not even Jiraiya, about what I am going to teach you. Okay? I mean it, Tsunade, I'm about to stick my neck out here and every single iota of my self preservation instincts are telling me it's a mistake, do not fuck me on this or I swear by my ancestors I'll make you regret it if it's the last thing I do."

And I meant it, too.

If word gets back to Jiraiya, who reports to Hiruzen, who just sits idly by while Danzo runs amok, I will murder this woman in ice cold blood in the most brutal way I can come up with, glorious tits or no.

I shall not suffer a traitor.

And so I taught her how to wield wood release the same way I taught Karin how to fly, through mutual exchange of information. It wasn't just [Mokuton Chakra Manipulation] I was forced to exchange with her, either, due to the fact that she had absolutely no natural aptitude for Senjutsu of any sort. 

So in return for turning Tsunade into a proper Sage in record time through [Natural Sense], [Natural Energy Manipulation] and [Sage Mode - Nature], I gained her miniscule knowledge in Kenjutsu, her not-so miniscule knowledge in Fuinjutsu, her secret strength enhancement skill and finally, Shunshin no Jutsu.

I was not completely pleased with this trade at first, but the info dumps that came with [Fuinjutsu Mastery], [Kenjutsu Mastery], [Megaton Fist] and [Shunshin no Jutsu] more than changed my mind when my brain stopped vibrating in my skull from the sudden overload of raw information.

What I did not know about [Ninshu] is that the skills that I gained from a master of their art were naturally going to start out at high levels and not at level one.

This meant my [Fuinjutsu Mastery] and [Megaton Fist] skills started at level ten each while [Shunshin no Jutsu] and [Kenjutsu Mastery] started at level five each.

It wasn't a perfect translation from person to person, but I have a feeling that is more due to a system limitation than Tsunade's skill in Fuinjutsu, considering the diamond on her forehead.

I mean, it's not like I'm disappointed that I can't just cheat my way straight to Tsunade's skill level in sealing, what ever gave you that idea? That's silly, you're silly.

...

Okay, so I'm pretty mad I can't just automatically learn her creation rebirth skill, but I guess it wouldn't be difficult to create some kind of seal to store my Chakra in, now that I'm pretty knowledgeable on the subject.

All in all, I think I've learned all I need to in order to become a rather terrifying presence on any battlefield, though I'm still about a hundred levels too low on the power scale for me to get comfortable yet. All the skills in the world won't stop me from getting killed by someone who outpaces me in pure stats or levels like Tsunade would if she had been actually serious the other night.

《PB》

"Are you sure I can't convince you to stick with Shizune and me from now on?" Tsunade questions teasingly with one hand on her hips and the other crossing her torso beneath her very generous bust, enough so to perk them up slightly and emphasize them even more than normal.

Two more days had passed since Tsunade and I decided to use [Ninshu] to teach one another skills in a single sitting that should have taken a decade of independent study otherwise. This time was mostly spent training Tsunade in safely dispelling Natural Energy from her body to prevent her from turning herself into a statue accidentally while Shizune busied herself teaching Karin as much as she could about being a proper Kunoichi in the allotted time provided.

Despite not having a natural inclination towards Senjutsu genetically like Hashirama and myself, Tsunade went from being a terrifying opponent to face to a downright eldritch horror that would make even Madara take notice when given access to Sage Mode and Mokuton techniques. Her already potent regeneration thanks to her absolute mastery of the medical arts seems to have been supercharged now that she can draw on the power of nature itself to help power her techniques, and if I didn't know any better, I would swear that she seems to have dropped her special transformation technique that kept her looking so young.

But that would just be crazy, right?

"Unfortunately, beautiful, Karin and I are on a bit of a family pilgrimage to Uzushio that I can't put off any longer, otherwise you already know I'd follow you anywhere you asked me to." I lay it on a bit thick, obviously, but Tsunade and I had come to a good enough understanding that she wasn't bothered in the slightest by my flirtatiousness. 

If anything, she seems to find it endearing when I compliment her and not her tits. 

Who'd have known.

"Oh well, I figured I'd give it a shot, you two make for surprisingly good students for being so bad with bedside manners." Tsunade admits after sighing in what sounded like legitimate disappointment, her head dipping for a second as she seems to be considering something heavily before she beckons me closer with a wave.

I step forward from my spot beside Karin and come to a rest before her and wait only a second before I feel her crush her lips against mine in a kiss that sends sparks racing through my body at the speed of light.

It lasts for just seconds, but that's more than long enough for me to almost melt into the much stronger womans hold as she ravishes me in an increasingly fervent fashion until she has to physically reign herself in when Shizune and Tonton alike begin to make different noises to make their discomfort audible.

[-5 Reputation with Karin Uzumaki!]

Get over it, Karin, you're way too young to be worried about romance with me anyway.

Give it a few more years, though…

Any thoughts about my apprentice are replaced with thoughts of Tsunade doing incredibly dirty and potentially painful things to my body, especially when she makes it clear she doesn't care about Shizune or Tonton's comfort levels after deepening our kiss even further.

Unfortunately, the two of us still require oxygen to survive despite our recently awakened big tree energy, so we are forced to break from our rather intimate moment to gather ourselves and enjoy the warmth our bodies produced when pressed so closely.

Goddamn, this woman is making me wax some poetic shit in my head, I've got a problem, or rather, two of them pressing against my face when Tsunade pulls me into another tight embrace.

"Thank you, Nemui, for giving me what I have long since given up on." Tsunade whispers in my ear before pulling my face out of her bust and tracing a thumb affectionately across my lips. "When you finish whatever it is you're going to do in Uzushio, come find me, yeah?"

I swallow thickly and nod, unwilling to trust myself not to say something foolish and ruin this tender moment.

Having six hundred reputation with Tsunade is fucking amazing, though I wonder how she'll act when I reach a thousand?

She won't go full Yandere on me… right?

Okay, note to self, figure out how that works before I risk having a Yandere Sage Mode enhanced Tsunade trying to be the conductor for my Uzumaki Express.

Man, what is with these analogies I keep coming up with? 

Tsunade eventually pulls away and allows her hands to drop to her sides, though it's clear by the twitch of her hands that she's tempted to keep going, despite both of our apprentices currently standing off to the side inconspicuously coming up with a plan to split us up if the kissing starts again.

Fucking jeleous, the both of you.

"So… see you soon?" The final member of the Sannin to become a Sennin questions at last, causing me to grin and flash her a thumbs up in response.

"That's a bet you can count on winning, Tsunade. Be safe out there and send one of your cute little slugs my way if you get yourself in a pickle and want some backup." I say and allow my arm to drop when my favorite woman in this world so far nods, turns and begins making her way towards Tanzaku-gai before she can convince herself to follow Karin and me to Uzushio instead.

I wait until I can no longer sense the three familiar Chakra signatures of Tsunade, Shizune and Tonton before turning in the opposite direction and once more resuming my journey to Nami, Karin falling in step behind me only moments later.

"Did you really have to let her basically molest you like that? Isn't she old enough to be our grandma?" Karin practically hisses while grabbing me by the shoulders and trying her best to twirl me around to face her, which I deny with a judicious application of surface clinging. "Look at me when I'm bitching at you!"

"I'm fucking blind, Karin. I can't even properly look at the tits my face was just completely buried in, give me a break!" I say while waving off her attempts at forcing me to face her direction, "you can't deny that having your face between those things was one of the single greatest moments of your life, don't you even dare try and deny it. Tsunade is one hell of a woman."

When Karin didn't respond and instead resorted to crossing her arms and turning her head in defeat, I knew it was safe to resume our journey.

You know, I wouldn't even be opposed to Karin joining in on some fun when she finishes growing into the woman I know she'll be, but until then, she's stuck being my dumb little apprentice.

Now, I wonder how long it's going to take for a few bandits to block our way. I give it ten minutes, max.


	7. Chapter 7

Playing Blind

Chapter 7,

I do not own anything pertaining to either Naruto or The Gamer.

《PB》

So you remember how I said it would take ten minutes to encounter our first bandits after splitting ways with Tsunade?

It took five.

Five minutes.

And it didn't stop there, either. Oh no, it got better.

We encountered a group of bandits every two miles, for days.

At this point, Karin and I have become a wee bit twitchy when we come across other people on the roads, especially after we encountered one particularly smart group of bandits that masqueraded themselves as traveling merchants.

Needless to say, we left a trail of blood in our wakes. I'd say bodies, but I stuffed all of those into my inventory, so all that was left to show that these bandits existed were the bloodstains they left upon their deaths.

On one hand, I'm starting to actually worry about how high my body count is climbing, especially knowing that I've only been in this world around three weeks now, but on the other, these are bandits we're talking about here.

They're pretty much good for one thing and one thing only, and that's experience points towards my level.

This goes back to the question of whether or not I should feel bad about committing what may amount as genocide when those I've killed are purely detrimental to society as a whole.

Because I don't feel bad in the slightest, and that concerns me.

It took just three weeks for my qualms with taking someone's life to take a back seat in my conscious mind.

What would my family think of the person I am becoming?

Just how far am I really willing to go in order to survive?

...

I can't rightly answer those questions, honestly, and the longer I think on the subject, the more I question myself and what I stand for. Despite having become a [Gamer] and losing my ability to truly feel, I refuse to lose my self awareness, and that's where I think my most pressing issue lies.

What's worse than losing my Humanity is the fact that I'm acutely aware of it actively slipping through my fingertips the longer I spend in this world, let alone knowing that there is very little I can do to stop the leak.

I try not to think about it any more than necessary, but some nights I find myself disassociating and staring off into the void when I should be focusing on my physical training, so lost in thought that Karin has gotten the drop on me twice now.

Letting your guard down around ninja's is one way to die a horrible and quick death, so having Karin sneak up on me so easily was a wake up call I can't afford to learn from someone with less friendly intentions, even if my apprentice's motivations weren't completely friendly in the first place.

Like seriously, the little shit has been trying to prank me nonstop since she got one up on me with the pink clothing.

Did I mention that I'm back to wearing my plain black robes once again? Because having my enemies actively question my attire during combat got on my nerves exceptionally quick, no matter how good of a distraction the sparkles were.

I think she's been trying to dye my hair or something equally as unforgivable, but I can't be sure because she keeps hiding whatever it is she's been trying to use on me in her independent inventory that I don't have access to. 

I'm almost starting to wonder if kicking her out of my party will delete the contents of her inventory or just auto-dump it all into the real world, but she hasn't really done anything unforgivable enough to warrant such treatment, yet.

By this point in our journey, Karin and I will be reaching a port whose name I can't be bothered remembering capable of taking us over to the part of Nami that is currently occupied by Gatou's forces within the next few days after we decided to just fly most of the way there when we got sick of dealing with bandit's for one week.

It turns out that flying is quicker than walking, but so much more energy intensive that it almost wasn't worth it yet. 

That, and it makes the local ninja population a bit jumpy. I've counted no less than five different ANBU squads trying to keep the pace with us as Karin and I flew by them on patrol missions, though they generally seem non-aggressive for the most part and more curious than anything else.

Thankfully.

I don't know if Tsunade would like it if I started a fight with the ANBU for being nosy bastards, so it's better for my health overall to just avoid killing or engaging with ninja's from Konoha in general for now. That, and I'm not too confident in my ability to fight multiple opponents at once right now without resorting to purely lethal tactics to survive.

So, between killing bandits, grinding dexterity when Karin sleeps and working on leveling my taijutsu and kenjutsu, I've had my Shadow Clones working on iryojutsu, fuinjutsu, Mokuton training and shape manipulation after remembering that's actually a thing.

So far, my skill in Taijutsu is getting to a somewhat proficient level while I'm still a novice with kenjutsu. The only reason Tsunade knew how to wield small blades was due to what little she learned from Hashirama as a child before he passed away, so the only knowledge she was able to pass to me was how to properly grip a short blade and the basics like slashing, stabbing, parrying and blocking.

Thankfully, the skills I've learned for wielding a tanto will translate well when I eventually start wielding Shiohi in the future, that Wakizashi Karin says was the other Nemui's before he got his brain melted and became, well, the new and improved Nemui, meaning me.

Obviously.

My Mokuton and shape manipulation training is going a lot more splendidly than my meager progress with fuinjutsu and iryojutsu, especially since Mokuton seems to gain a passive bonus to its growth rate by twenty percent thanks to my One With Nature perk. Another reason my Mokuton training is going so well is because of that one skill I gained after reaching fifty points in my intelligence stat.

[Psychometry] is a very, very useful skill to have, let me tell you. I can basically learn nearly the entire history of an object in just two uses of the skill, while five uses or more seems to grant me a nearly complete understanding of whatever the object is.

Want to know what I've mostly been using the skill on?

The massive forest of tree's Hashirama left littering the entirety of Hi no Kuni. 

Each tree I scanned granted me quite a bit of experience towards [Mokuton Chakra Manipulation] each, enough so to push the skill to level twenty two compared to my level fifteen with [Haton Chakra Manipulation]. 

Not only does [Psychometry] allow me to view an object's history and learn things about them that I would have otherwise been able to, it also allows me to actually learn certain skills from the objects I'm touching, if there are skills to be learned that is.

For instance, after using [Psychometry] on my current weapon, the tanto from Tanzaku-Gai, I gained not only the [Blacksmithing] skill, which started at a whopping level ten, but knowledge on it's personal forging process.

It turns out the creator of my weapon is exceptionally skilled in his craft, but absolute trash in every other skill he attempted to pick up over the years. This, of course, led to the man developing a savant level understanding of the art of forging blades, and through his work, so too have I.

The tree's left behind by Hashirama, too, gave me a direct view into their creation process, down to telling me exactly how much Chakra went into making each one.

I'll go ahead and clarify for those who don't know already, Hashirama was a fucking Monster.

Like, I'm not even joking.

When I say each tree tells a similar story of some goofy motherfucker with absolutely astronomical Chakra reserves creating them like it's nothing, I mean it. 

To put this into perspective, each tree I've stopped at and learned from has a net worth of Chakra more than ten times my own personal reserves. Thats two hundred thousand points, each, and this dude really went and grew a fucking forest worth at once, multiple times over.

We are talking about Chakra reserves in the tens of millions range, easy.

Any happy go lucky good feelings I had about having nearly twenty thousand points of Chakra disappeared like a drop of blood in an ocean of water filled to the brim with ravenous Hoshigake, to be frank.

It also helped reignite my desire to become the strongest motherfucker to walk these lands since the happy tree boi himself went and got ganked by his number one fan.

If that dense idiot Hashirama can do absolutely insane shit like growing a forest accidently by clapping his hands after seeing something slightly impressive, then so should I.

Eventually.

Like holy shit, just how did that dude get so much Chakra? Is it due to him having been an incarnation of Ashura? 

I mean, it's the only thing that makes sense to me, otherwise my theory on various clans potential multiplicative factors and stat bonuses is going right out the window, such as the Nara having two hundred or more points in intelligence naturally from birth and the Uchiha having negative points in wisdom. 

Except for Itachi and Shisui, maybe. Those two are okay, I won't rag on them too hard, but the rest of the Uchiha that I've learned about so far seem like they have a hidden ego stat to go along with that agility stat ninja's have.

Ugh, what a waste of brain power, what the hell am I doing thinking about this shit again? I need to be focusing on my training, damnit!

The latest skill I bartered Karin for was Tsunade's [Megaton Fist] in exchange for, yep, the [Adamantine Sealing Chains], the penultimate skill that any good Uzumaki should know.

Besides Naruto, of course.

He's brain dead for not exploring his options there and everyone knows it.

[Active] : [Uzumaki Hijutsu: Adamantine Sealing Chains] - [After shaping them within their body, the user is able to send these Chakra-suppressing chains of variable size out to attack, bind, apply seals or form defensive barriers capable of withstanding (50,000) points of damage. -500cp per chain, -50cp per meter from user.][lvl:5][175/500]

Despite having twenty thousand points worth of Chakra, I still barely have enough to make use of this skill except for when I'm absolutely positive my opponent can't dodge.

Do you want to know something though?

These chains can be downright terrifying when formed out of certain elemental Chakra natures and pure natural energy or just beautiful when formed with medical Chakra.

When I make them with a Mokuton alignment, my chain lengths gain a bark-like appearance and suppress Chakra five times more potently than my raw, unaligned Chakra can. Haton Chakra forms the lengths out of interwoven and wickedly thorned vines and seems to bypass my need to spend extra Chakra to extend them from my body by any significant amount, meaning I can now vine whip someone like I'm a bulbasaur from a nice, safe distance.

The most terrifying of my offensive chains are those formed using mostly pure natural energy, as they're invisible to non-sages, gain a ridiculous buff to their ability to suppress Chakra beyond even the Mokuton chains and have the bonus feature of being able to petrify anything wrapped up within them with negligible effort on my part.

Doton just makes my chains sluggish and Suiton makes them gain a watery appearance, both being absolutely useless to me.

My medical chains, though, are awesome, and I love them very, very much.

Now I don't have to be touching someone to heal them, I can just have them grab one of my chains and voila, they get healed. I can even stab someone with them and it still does the trick without actually hurting the person in need of medical assistance.

All in all, I'm pretty confident in my ability to handle mostly anything Gatou can throw my way whenever Karin and I inevitably show up to rain on his parade, since I know that Team Seven hasn't shown up yet to deal with the small man.

If they had, I would have heard about it when I asked about the situation in Nami when we stopped in at Shibumi-gai for meat and other supplies.

Sure enough, Gatou's Shipping Corporation is still running the shots, with a thousand man army and an A-rank Nuke-nin rumored to be on his payroll.

I personally like those odds, so obviously it's time for Karin and I to strike while the iron is hot and take all of Gatou's worldly possessions for myself.

Now if only this fucking boat would hurry up and finish unloading so we can get this show on the road. I'm almost tempted to go up there and show the assholes how to properly lift crates, because hot damn these folks are slower than molasses.

You know what, fuck it, time to flex on some random civilians.

《PB》

Flexing on people sometimes leads to good things, like the crew of this fishing vessel being so thankful for the additional help in hauling their cargo that they waved our fees or need for a ticket and delivered us straight to Nami without asking too many questions.

They obviously had some questions to ask, like why are you holding a knife to my throat and will you please spare my life if I do what you want, you know, easy questions.

Okay, so I had to do more than just flex to get these fishermen to ignore the many warnings from the residents of Nami to not enter their waters out of fear of Gatou, but that's just semantics.

On that note, we made it to Nami in what I hear is record-breaking time. I'm not too inclined to believe the man who would tell such a tall tale, and I even told him as such. I may have also told him that I'd hunt him down if I find out he was lying, but that was more just for fun than anything.

Does he actually think I would waste my time hunting him down over something as trivial as not setting the world record in travel time between the land of fire and the land of waves?

He should, he's dealing with an Uzumaki here as far as he can tell.

Have I mentioned that I haven't slept in days out of fear of having my hair dyed by my apprentice in my comatose state that technically classifies as sleep?

It doesn't exactly hinder me, but it makes me feel like my brain is slowly turning to mush as I live and breath.

Hmm, I wonder if [Meditation] would do the trick in this situation…

《PB》

[Meditation] did the trick alright.

It did the trick so fucking well that I passed out right as we arrived in Nami proper, resulting in Karin having to haul me away from the fishing vessel on her back rather quickly before the crew of said vessel could get back at me for basically holding them all hostage.

That would have been fine and dandy with me if Karin had been inclined to just find us a little tree to hide in or something until I woke back up, and that's actually what she did, but she also thought it would be cute to dye my hair powder fucking pink in my sleep!

"-you ugly ass little blind bitch!" I heard the man that was unfortunate enough to be the one to inform me that my hair is now pink finish speaking, causing me to nod along like I was agreeing with what he was saying before making a retort of my own.

"Yeah, well I fucked your mom last night and made your dad watch, what are you gonna do about it?"

It's not very eloquent of me, I know, but I don't expect this man to understand the other insult I had prepared for him so I used the old tried and true 'your mom' method instead.

"Look here you broad shouldered, scragly ass, homely looking bitch, if you do not give me your motherfucking money right the fuck now, I'm going to bend you over and fix that freakishly manly voice of yours real good with my goddamn sword!"

Wait.

Now you just wait a damn second…

Did he just imply… what I think he implied?

Oh no the hell he didn't!

I unleash my inner tree-hugger and grow a tree directly below the soon to be dead bandit dumb enough to misgender me, the top of the tree entering his body through his ass and expanding rapidly outwards after basically turning his insides into a shishkebab.

I turned that motherfucker into a scarecrow for the world to see and appreciate using an improved application of raw Mokuton Chakra and shape manipulation, which each gained another level for my efforts.

I turned in the direction of the other bandit's that Karin had just sat back and allowed to witness that confrontation before ending them in similar fashions, costing me around five thousand points in Chakra overall to grow the ten trees now acting as the skeletons of my brand new scarecrow collection.

I think I'm just going to leave these guys here as an example, why cut down such masterpieces and deny the world my art, you know?

"Karin, after we are finished with the plan we had discussed on what we're going to do in Nami proper, I swear to fucking Ophis I'm going to break your ass." 

I'll let her figure out what type of breaking I'm going to be doing.

[+200 Reputation with Karin Uzumaki!]

Oh for fucks sake. This girl…

"I knew you'd come around eventually, Sensei. I'm just irresistible, aren't I? And how'd you know I'm int-"

"I'm just going to ignore you until we get to where we're going, you little creep."

"Oh come on! If anything, I think pink hair makes you look pre-"

I cut her off with a [Megaton Fist] enhanced slap on her ass and shut her down her dreams real quick, though the two hundred more points to her reputation remained, putting her just below Tsunade at five hundred and ninety five points.

My mom raised me to never put my hands on a woman who didn't have it coming, and let me tell you, Karin had it coming.

《PB》

Nami proper is an absolute shithole.

I mean that in the nicest way, because these people are all suffering beneath the boot of a tyrant, but I was unaware of just how bad things were here.

Or rather, I forgot, and now I wish I got here sooner.

The people here are mostly emaciated from lack of food and their homes barely qualify as ramshack huts. This isn't the case for all of the population, of course, as those who work under Gatou as labourers or mercenaries eat and live well to be considered low middle class, but the rest who make their own ways are left to suffer under a tariff on all goods that exceeds eighty percent of these people's incomes and food stores.

It's the most god awful situation I've ever seen personally, and I grew up pretty near to a trailer park that was known for its drugs, prostitution and other shady shit that I don't like thinking about.

I had already hyped myself up over the past week to basically take over this country if I could manage to do so, and I'll admit that it was only to steal Gatou's assets and make them my own, but now I'm starting to think maybe I can balance out the massacre I'm going to be committing here by doing some good by these people.

So far, Karin and I have yet to sense anyone within our vicinity with a Chakra signature strong enough to warrant concern, so that means Zabuza and Haku are likely at their hideout and not within Sector A, which is the main hub of the island nation.

This place was so poor they couldn't even afford to name their Capital town for crying out loud.

As much as I'd love to just track Gatou down and deal with him here and now, I know better than to rush head first into something like this without a proper plan.

"Excuse me, ladies?" I hear a voice call out from behind me, causing me to focus my attention on them with my inner eye as I turn to face whoever was addressing me. "Ma'am? Pardon me, miss? Um, lady with the pretty pink hair, can you hear me?"

I can't tell you who they are, just that they're female and thus spared from my quickly building not-wrath, for now.

"I'm a man, thank you very much. Now, what can I do for you?" I ask through clenched teeth, still somewhat bothered about people thinking I'm a woman thanks to my now powder fucking pink hair.

Fuck you so much, Karin, and not even in the way you'd like it, or where.

"Oh. Oh. I'm so sorry, I just… please forgive me!" The insofar unnamed individual bows at the waist in my direction while her miniscule Chakra source flickers with embarrassment, "I was hoping that you'd be willing to speak with me for a moment, but I understand if you don't feel like hearing me out now."

Hmm, why do I faintly recognize this person's voice?

The number of people's voices I remember from the wave arc is very limited, so that means the person before me can only be one of two people, and this person's Chakra is far too weak to be who I thought it may have been at first.

That leaves Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter.

Karin remains silent beside me, but I can feel her trepidation through the build up of her Chakra, so I soothe her nerves by holding a hand out in front of her to indicate peace while nodding in Tsunami's direction.

"I'm willing to hear you out, stranger, but if you try and rob me or solicit sex, you won't like the consequences." I say mostly due to the fact that I technically shouldn't know who Tsunami is and thus need to keep up appearances until I can get away with being friendlier. "I tend to leave people very stiff by the time I'm through with them."

Let's be honest, Tsunami has had a hard enough time as is, she doesn't need me adding anything on top of it, unless she wants to add me on top of her, of course.

Inari sure acted like he could use a sibling, and Tsunami is supposed to be a very pleasant woman despite being a wallflower in a world filled with seductresses and assassins that could pose as models. What she lacks in body she makes up for in personality and normalcy, as far as I'm concerned.

"Oh, er, thank you for your time. Just to be sure, you two are Shinobi, correct?" The person who I'm sure is Tsunami questions unsurely, only to relax when Karin nods and I shrug while giving the so-so gesture with my left hand. "Splendid! I don't have a lot, but could I please hire the two of you to guard my son and I while my father is away on… business? It would be for a week at most, and we have plenty of room right now if you need somewhere to stay."

Damn I'm getting good at calling shit early.

Wait, why didn't I just use [Observe] to figure it out?

I have gained far too many skills lately, I keep forgetting about one of my useful ones available to all [Gamer]'s. I should really rectify this issue as soon as possible, and maybe add some points to my rapidly stagnating wisdom.

《PB》

When Tsunami said she didn't have a lot, I was expecting her to offer more than a measly five hundred ryo, but then again, I shouldn't be so surprised when Tazuna only had enough money to hire Team Seven under the pretence of a C-rank mission.

I obviously told her to keep the money, since Karin and I had made more than plenty after genociding the bandit population across the entire forest belt of Hi no Kuni as the string of forests grown by Hashirama was known as. 

As it turns out, Tazuna had left for Konoha about three weeks ago and was due home relatively soon. I don't know how fast Team Seven can travel with an old man like Tazuna in tow, but I can guesstimate that they're due to arrive any day now.

This is good, and bad.

Good because I might get to meet another family member, which is just a weird way to think about who was one of my childhood idols in a way, but bad because this forces me to basically rush my plan for conquering Wave.

[New Quest Created!]

[All Your Base Are Belong To Us!]

[Gatou has had an unrestricted stranglehold on Nami for far too long. Liberate the island from his possession by any means necessary.]

[Rewards: 100,000 exp, (?), (?), 《?》]

Accept?

[Y]

Okay, I have multiple questions here, the most pressing one being why the hell can't I reject this quest?

Please, please tell me I'm not getting dragged into a main quest line somehow.

I obviously accepted the quest because I planned on freeing Wave from Gatou irregardless and the rewards had the potential to be hella nice besides the obvious hundred thousand experience points, but I don't like the implication of the System being able to strongarm me into quests like this at all.

So that was how Karin and I found ourselves staying with Tsunami and her son Inari until we've finished our business here in Nami.

The first thing I did when arriving at her home was starting a garden in her backyard, because poor families fucking love gardens and I'll be damned if I let someone starve when there's something I can do about it.

As someone who had to go hungry multiple times in their lives because my mother spent all of her money on alcohol, lacking food and sustenance has become one of my biggest fears over the years. Thankfully, Tsunami has at least some food in her pantries, but it wasn't enough to feed four and then some more whenever her father arrived for more than a few days at best.

That said, I highly doubt these folks can sustain themselves on just fruits and veggies alone, no matter how nutritious my produce is after becoming so skilled with my Haton Chakra nature. To compensate for this, I had a group of twenty Shadow Clones go out to snag some fish from a river further inland as to avoid Gatou's wandering patrols that are sent out to keep the citizen body of Nami subdued, broke and starving.

Give me your tired and restless, huh?

Hmm… I wonder…

Ignoring my thoughts of starting a tea party in the harbor while drunk as fuck and dressed up in leather and feathers for now, I lean back further into my spot on Tsunami's roof and enjoy the pleasant sea breeze that washes over me and splays the bit of my hair that wasnt tied up in every which direction.

Have I ever mentioned how much a hassle having Madara-length hair was? Because hot damn, my hair has volume for days and does the most anime shit I've ever seen in some spots due to how spikey it is.

Any thoughts I had about my hair went straight out the window when a random info dump hit me like a Sage enhanced fist from Tsunade to the skull.

Oh fuck.

That's not good.

What the flying fuck did I just witness?

"Karin, we have a fucking major problem. Lock this goddamn house down and don't fucking let anyone in until I get back, do you understand?" I quickly pull up the party menu and begin shouting at Karin at once through the voice chat feature as I take off in the direction that the battle my clones discovered was taking place in. "I'm serious, this is an A-rank kind of problem, expect me to have a part of four or five when I return."

"Wait, what the hell is going on?" Karin responds back almost instantly, "Are we being attacked?!"

"The Jounin of the squad Konoha sent to protect Tsunami's dad just went down and if I don't hurry up, I'm going to have to bury everyone out there. Going radio silent, no chatter until I check back in." I reply back hastily before closing the party window in favor of bringing up my stats.

'[Stats]'

[Stats]

Name: Nemui

Level: 35 [13,983/28,102]

Race: Human

Clan: [Uzumaki]

Class: [Ronin],[Sage],[?]

HP: 178,092/178,092 [+9/s]

CP: 21,568/21,568 [+10/s]/[-20/5s]

CC: 100%

VIT: 97

END: 54

STR: 50

DEX: 42

INT: 50

WIS: 29

LUK: 20

Ryo: 18,230

SP Available: 69

Considering what I'm about to be doing, I don't think it's worth sitting on these points any longer. I dump eight points into dexterity, three points into vitality and fifty points into intelligence, leaving me with only eight points to spare before I accept the changes and pray that I don't collapse on myself again.

It was too much to hope for.

[For reaching 100 points in VIT, you have been awarded a random perk from the VIT category!]

[Perk list updated!]

[For reaching 100 points in INT, you have been awarded a random perk from the INT category!]

[Perk list updated!]

[For reaching 50 points in DEX, you have been awarded a random perk from the DEX category!]

[Perk list updated!]

Fuck, I should have waited!

The info dump that came with gaining three new perks at once was tremendous, as was the feeling of my entire body igniting from the inside out starting from my brain.

Oh man, oh fuck, what is this shit?

I think I'm going to be sick.

My body hits the earth with enough force to cause over a thousand points of damage, but my mind is on fire and I can't bring myself to care about something like that when I can literally feel my body rewiring itself once more.

I'm not sure how long I laid there, but I forced myself to stand and once more started trying to make my way to where the bloodbath Tazuna walked into was taking place.

A quick scan of my updated perk list displays my three new perks, and I would have stopped and stared for a while had the situation not been so dire.

[Life Bringer] allows me to directly share my regeneration rate with those of my choosing and passively increases the potency of my healing skills by a whopping fifty percent. That's just what I needed after seeing who I'm pretty sure is Kurenai Yuhi having one of her arms lobbed off at the shoulder by Zabuza, not to mention what likely would have happened to her students if my clones didn't start bum rushing the man as a distraction.

[Perfect Synaptic Coupling] rewired my nervous system to be twice as efficient, not to mention granted me near perfect control of my muscular system. This meant doubled reaction time, which was already pretty good due to my history as a gamer before becoming a proper [Gamer].

The best perk out of all three, though, was [Precognition], and I think it couldn't be more obvious as to why I feel this way.

Now, if only my fucking legs would cooperate.

Wait, fuck, I can fly, I don't even need my legs right now!

Time to hopefully go save Kurenai and figure out why the fuck Sarutobi decided to send Team Eight with Tazuna and not Seven.

《PB》

Thanks to my budding skill in shape manipulation, I was able to increase my flight speed by nearly double by creating two angled semi-solid platforms of air in front of me to become more aerodynamic. This resulted in me closing the distance between where I was and the lake that Zabuza had prepared his ambush on in a minute flat.

I slow down just enough as I get close enough to hit my soon-to-be opponent with an [Observe] as to not make the mistake of underestimating the man like I was prone to do.

'[Observe]'

Name: Zabuza Momochi  
Level: 71  
Race: Human  
Class: [Shinobi]  
HP: 13,798/19,327  
CP: 1,637/2,129  
CC: 86%  
VIT: 42  
END: 46  
STR: 93  
DEX: 67  
INT: 49  
WIS: 35  
LUK: 20  
Rep: +/- 0

[Zabuza Momochi is a rogue ninja hailing from Kirigakure who specializes in Silent Killing, a style of assassination techniques that specifically target the eight vital targets of the Human body. After failing to kill the Yondaime Mizukage Yagura, Zabuza fled Kiri with his now apprentice Haku with aspirations to return home one day and free the Land of Water from the hands of the most openly malevolent dictator to come to power in the world thus far.]

[Mood: Zabuza is currently regretting having to kill such a beautiful opponent.]

I arrive just in time to throw myself in between a blow that would have decapitated Kurenai, sparks flying from my tanto and Kubikiribocho alike as Zabuza's massive sword bears down on me with a strength I could hardly match unenhanced.

Luckily, though, I'm not unenhanced.

[Yoton:Rin] springs to life around me, doubling my strength, endurance and dexterity to the triple digit range each, which was more than enough to deftly shove Zabuza's sword away before offering a retaliatory strike to his chest region with an upward slash.

[-1,954 HP!]

I'm just quick enough with my enhanced dexterity to actually catch Zabuza lacking, which is good for me as that forces him back and away from the woman behind me.

Six Shadow Clones form behind me as I sense yet another blow coming for me from below. One clone begins to utilize [Shosen no Jutsu] to slow Kurenai's blood loss, one clone dives into the lake to retrieve her missing arm so I can hopefully reattach it later and the other four assume defensive positions around the wounded and heavily bleeding Genin and severely shaken, partially stirred old man.

I was just in time, too, as my Shadow Clones are able to easily intercept Zabuza's much physically weaker Water Clones as they rise out of the lake like zombies and throw themselves at my replicas like they're mortal enemies.

Zabuza's Water Clones are pulverized in a spray of mist before they can so much as swing at my clones thanks to my strength multiplier being triple that of the severely weakened Water Clones that had one sixteenth the strength of the original Zabuza. Fifty points in strength that function as one hundred and fifty points theoretically will always beat a sixteenth of one hundred points in strength any day of the week.

[Precognition] warns me that Zabuza is about to throw his sword at me like a boomerang, so I relax my body and move just outside of the rapidly closing kill zone with two quick steps backwards and left, narrowly and stylishly dodging the rather foolish attack.

I don't stop there, obviously, as I reach out and pluck Kubikiri Boucho from the air with a quick application of [Megaton Fist] to increase my already enhanced strength from six times my normal output when used in conjunction with [Yoton:Rin] to a whopping thirty times my standard strength, allowing me to completely negate the kinetic energy in the weapon with raw strength alone.

I was tempted to begin using the weapon as my own for style points alone, but I'm not quite strong enough to toy with a man like Zabuza right now, so I do the next best thing and stuff the giant sharpened slab of metal into my inventory as to deny Zabuza his primary weapon.

[+1 Kubikiribocho!]

That's fucking right, I just stole this mans sword, and with it, denied him his most potent weapon against me.

"If you don't pull that sword out of your ass or wherever it is that you just hid it, I swear on all that is valuable in this world I'm going to rip your fucking head off with my bare hands!" I hear Zabuza yelling belligerently as he tries to close the gap between us, but the stacking effect of a combination of [Yoton:Rin] and [Shunshin no Jutsu] keep my just outside of Zabuza's enraged attacks as he blasts across the lake I've found myself fighting on top of like a jet ski.

"Fuck you, buddy, that's what you get for throwing it at me in the first place!" I growl through clenched teeth as I block an incoming kick with a high raised knee powerful enough to vibrate the bones in my right leg down to my toes, "Is this the best you got? No wonder that little shrimp Yagura kicked your ass and chased you out of Kiri, you can't even throw a proper kick!"

Now, usually I'd think that facing a former Jounin like Zabuza would have been more intimidating than it is, but after having my ass handed to me by Tsunade for nearly a week straight, day in and day out, I've found that I've either heavily overestimated this man, or heavily underestimated having such an advanced physiology when compared to a clanless Shinobi. 

That said, this motherfucker is pretty fierce when properly pissed off, and I think the only thing that would make him madder than he already is, is threatening his apprentices life.

I form a few more Shadow Clones below our feet in the lake's depths to break away from me to do just that as Zabuza and I engage in fisticuffs once more, though obviously I have the advantage due to the fact I still have my main weapon on hand.

[Precognition] gains three levels within the first few seconds of our close range fight as I dip, dodge, weave and juke around a man that I had absolutely no business competing with in the physical prowess department. It's only due to the warnings I receive from said skill that prevent me from outright getting my ass whooped here and I know it, but it doesn't make the fight any less enjoyable for me.

I never knew how exhilarating life or death battles could be! I can easily see how Madara ended up being required to attend the Konoha chapter of battleholics anonymous, honestly.

That changes when Zabuza seems to wisen up a bit and draws two rather lengthy kunai knives from the pouch currently resting on his lower back, forcing me to reevaluate my ability to remain engaged in close combat for the time being.

A cursory check of my Chakra reserves reveal that I've fallen just above sixteen thousand out of thirty one thousand in just few minutes I've been engaging in combat with Zabuza, making me curse beneath my breath before dropping [Yoton:Rin] and allowing my physical stats to fall back into their proper ranges.

This isn't fucking good. Between the ten Shadow Clones, [Yoton:Rin] and one time uses of both [Megaton Fist] and [Shunshin no Jutsu], I've burned far too much Chakra far too quickly to be able to keep up this sort of pace for much longer.

That is, until I pulled a [Pearl Apple] out of my inventory and began snacking down in the middle of combat like I was playing Skyrim and had just run out of healing potions and mana.

The extra two points a second in Chakra regeneration isn't nearly enough to grant me back the twelve thousand points of Chakra fast enough to be of any real use right now, but it's enough to make me that much more confident in spending Chakra to keep [Precognition] up and running for the next few minutes while I wait for my gambit to pay off.

I can feel Kurenai trying to shrug the Shadow Clone slowing her bleeding away from her to try and resume the fight, but whatever my clone said to her was enough to make her reconsider so quickly that she seemed to jerk back in surprise away from the lake.

Her Genin aren't faring much better, and all three are suffering from borderline Chakra exhaustion and severe blood loss, but I'm confident enough in my skills in iryojutsu to keep them alive until I can take a proper look at them when all of this is said and done.

"What's wrong, getting winded already you little punk?" Zabuza taunts as he spins his kunai on his fingers like it's supposed to be a flex or something, "If you hand over my sword and step aside to let me finish my business, I might just make your death quick and painless. If you don't-"

Zabuza was forced to bite his tongue as two of my Shadow Clones came flying through the air overhead before landing directly behind me, one holding an unconscious Haku who seemed to be missing an arm while the other waved at Zabuza using Haku's severed appendage.

"Oh, would you looky here… looks like I'm the one holding all the cards here, Zabuza, are you sure you want to keep making threats?" I question while placing a palm on Haku's head to suffuse their body with healing Chakra to slow their blood loss.

Why the fuck can't I tell Haku's gender after scanning their body?

How the hell does that work?

Ignoring the age old crisis that I've struggled with since hearing that Haku was actually a guy resurfacing once more in the back of my head, I can practically hear Zabuza's sharpened teeth grinding together despite the twenty or something foot distance between us.

"... what do you want, brat?" Zabuza eventually growls out with hostility dripping from each word.

I don't relax just yet, but as long as he isn't outright attacking me, I can focus on recouping my Chakra and perhaps bluff my way into forcing Zabuza to back down.

"I want you to get the fuck off this island, for one, but I know your stupid ass won't ever realize that Gatou doesn't plan to pay you until it's too late anyway, so that's unlikely to happen." I retort strongly, my words carrying weight across the otherwise silent clearing if it wasn't for the soft whimpers coming from either Haku, Kiba or Akamaru, since I know for a fact it isn't Kurenai. "Instead, let's make a deal. You go back to whatever hole Gatou has you caged in like the good little dog you are and wait for the next two days while I wrap my business up here. If you cooperate, I'll consider returning your cute little trap of an apprentice and your stupid magic sword when I'm done slaughtering Gatou and his men, but if you don't, I'm going to use one of your weapons to break the other. I'll let you figure out how."

Zabuza's Chakra begins to fluctuate wildly as he struggles against his desires to launch a Suiton attack, based on the way he's currently flexing his Chakra, but otherwise remains still until I can just barely perceive him nodding his head in the affirmative.

"How do I know you'll keep your word? You're a Shinobi, and we all know Shinobi lie, cheat and steal as easily as they breathe." Zabuza's gravelly voice has lost its heat by this point and instead gains a more defeated tone, letting me know that he realizes he has very little options here.

Without his weapon and backup, Zabuza is much less of a threat than he would have otherwise been, and he seems to realize that I've regained more than enough of my Chakra to just kill Haku now and continue the fight regardless of his feelings.

Hmm, let's try something here.

"One, I'm a Ronin, not a fucking Shinobi. Two, I'm an Uzumaki, you should know by now we say what we mean and mean what we say." I shrug carelessly, and my admission causes Zabuza to take very visible steps backwards for some reason.

"Did… did you just say Uzumaki?" Zabuza practically whispers for some reason, his Chakra once more doing some really strange maneuvers within his coils. "Oh fuck that! You can't fool me, your hair is powder pink, not blood red you goddamn liar!"

I have four [Adamantine Sealing Chains] burst from my lower back and wave ominously behind me for a moment like scorpion tails before posing all four to pierce Haku through like a pincushion after my clone steps forward and offers them up as a sacrifice. 

"You were saying?"

"... two days, right?"

That's what I fucking thought, Zabuza. Leave now so I can recruit you later when the Konoha ninja eventually go home.

I nod across to my increasingly weary opponent, causing them to scoff before turning to look at his apprentice over my shoulder and audibly growl in frustration, summon a haze of Chakra around him that likely indicated his use of Kirigakure no Jutsu and take off due south until I could no longer feel his presence within my sensory range.

I wait for a few more moments to make sure he won't double back and try to attack the group of people I'm now responsible for protecting before deciding that Zabuza was likely too intelligent to risk his favored weapons over what he has to know is a failed mission.

When I'm positive the coast is clear, I turn my attention to the group of five behind me, not counting my hostage and clones. 

"Is everyone good to move? We really need to get Tazuna back home and start treating those wounds before any of you have a nasty infection set in." I ask the group of Konoha Shinobi after a moment of silence passes between us. "Tsunami hired my student and I as bodyguards earlier, so I don't mind picking up your slack guarding the old man while you recover. If it helps settle your nerves, I'm good friends with Tsunade Senju and have received hands on medical training from her, 'tteyaro."

[+150 Reputation with Hinata Hyuuga!]

[+100 Reputation with Kiba Inuzuka!]

[+100 Reputation with Shino Aburame!]

[+200 Reputation with Tazuna Ichigeki!]

Tazuna visibly perked up upon hearing his daughters name, something the three on edge Genin before me no doubt took notice of.

Thank you, metaknowledge gods, for making me think of using a variation of the fabled Uzumaki verbal tic just this once to win over Team Eight, who were no doubt familiar enough with Naruto to recognize it and thus be more likely to feel familiarity towards me.

I really need them to trust me here, otherwise I'll be forced to resort to leaving them behind, and I don't want the deaths of children on my consciousness if I can help it. If that means using a bit of mental manipulation to speed things up, then so fucking be it.

That's exactly what I see before me, too. Three twelve year olds and a drunk old man way too far in over their heads for them to survive without a bit of assistance from someone on the surface to drag them back up, especially taking into account that Kurenai is a fresh Jounin who is a B-ranker at best.

The three Genin look between one another sluggishly and back to their now very unconscious teacher before Kiba is the one to break the silence.

"Look, we don't know who you are, but you really did us a solid by saving our asses from that guy. I'm willing to trust you, for now." Kiba eventually says after consulting Hinata and Shino for a few moments with harsh whispering and barking provided by an exciting looking Akamaru, "Hey, if Akamaru says they're good, they're good, I don't care how much you two distrust 'em! Kurenai-sensei would have died if it wasn't for them!"

Hinata and Shino both look in Kibas's direction in an almost offended manner before eventually agreeing with his assessment, if begrudgingly. All three took positions on my Shadow Clones backs rather quickly after deciding to momentarily trust me, as did the silent and nearly catatonic Tazuna who absolutely reeked of sweat and cheap sake.

A bloody and very weak Kurenai is held against my chest closely as my clones and I begin flying back towards Tazuna's home at an acceptable pace with the Genin of Team Eight and Haku in tow, all while hoping it's actually possible to save the rookie Jounin's arm.

Here's to hoping.

《PB》

A quick message to Karin using voice chat has her ready for us and the kitchen table sterilized and prepped for surgery by the time all of us arrive back at Tsunami's place, allowing me to get to work reattaching Kurenai's arm after making sure that necrosis hadn't set in in the severed limb or the stump left where it should have been.

Luckily for me and Kurenai both, I was able to successfully regrow the missing muscle that would have ordinarily made such a procedure impossible thanks to the [Life Bringer] perk allowing me to temporarily grant other people my natural regeneration capabilities.

The reason this is so useful is because Kurenai's body was able to compliment my healing automatically afterwards and guided the process along far better than I could have manually. This meant I was able to focus on doing what her body couldn't do alone, like revitalizing her arm by stoking the remaining vital energies within it with my own.

Once I was positive Kurenai would retain full use of her arm and was no longer in life threatening danger, I moved on to reattaching Haku's severed arm in a similar fashion while using my mediocre knowledge in fuinjutsu to actually graft a seal beneath the surface of their skin just above their heart out of scar tissue and what little proper ink I had left that Tsunade had gifted me with.

It's an explosive seal, to be exact, set to trigger with a specific pulse of Chakra from me and me alone. Hopefully Haku will be reasonable and remain calm after I explain the situation to them, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

I'm glad I had already slept on the way to Nami, because after this clusterfuck of a day so far, I doubt I'm going to be getting a wink of sleep until Gatou's dead and Zabuza and Haku are on my team.

Letting them die now after I went through the effort of reattaching Haku's arm would just be a massive waste.

On that note, I decided to take a few blood samples from Haku to save for later, just in case I do need to kill them and find myself able to steal bloodlines in the future.

After an hour of intensive use of [Shosen no Jutsu] and a judicious use of my now much more profound understanding of the Human anatomy, neither Kurenai, Kiba, Hinata, Shino or Haku were at risk of dying from their wounds.

To say that these Genin had been through hell would be a massive understatement. 

Kiba had received a dangerously deep gash along his back after he had tried to hit one of Zabuza's water clones with one of his Gatsuga, I think the skill is called. It wasn't deep enough to completely sever his spine, but it had caused enough damage that it likely would have ended his career had there not been a clone nearby to treat him as quickly as it did.

Hinata and Shino had been in a similar condition, with Hinata suffering from a massive gash down the left side of her face that just barely missed her eye while Shino had apparently thought a cloud of bugs and his meager strength alone would have been enough to catch Kubikiri Boucho mid-flight like I had utilizing a game breaking skill chain.

These kids are so fucking lucky that I was nearby it's not even funny, and they all seem to be aware of this fact.

It also helped that Tsunami vouched for Karin and I when we explained to the Genin that we had just arrived in town only a few hours before they did after they questioned whether or not we worked for Zabuza.

I would have been offended if I wasn't damn impressed with their current levels of paranoia. Zabuza really did a number on these kids with his mind games, no joke.

Eventually, the chaos within the now brimming household settled to a mild din at best and Tsunami led the children upstairs to put Kurenai to bed, freshen up and then rest, hopefully in that order.

So as I sat down for a quick dinner of vegetable soup in beef stock with Karin, Tsunami, Inari and Tazuna half an hour later after a quick patrol of the area for some fresh air after practically bathing in blood for the past hour, I had a few clones deliver the still warm food to Team Eight after they finished freshening up and settling in to their rather cramped temporary lodgings.

"I… thank you for saving me, us, from that man. I can't offer much after I spent the last of my money on hiring those Konoha ninja, but I honor my debts." Tazuna is the first person to speak up as we all sit down around the new table I had grown Tsunami using Mokuton after turning her other one into an operation station. "I mean it, kid. Without me, without the super duper bridge I'm building, this island…"

I don't remember Tazuna being this somber in canon, but then again, he did just see the help he spent the last of his life savings hiring get practically decimated by a single man with a ridiculous sized sword that may or may not have been forged with compensation in mind.

"I already know, old man, I already know. Even a blind man like me can see just how bad of a shape this island is in." I replied slowly after thoughtfully chewing on a carrot that had been perfectly cooked through in my soup, much to my delight, "Your daughter here tells me that you're building a bridge to the mainland somewhere in fire country, yeah?" 

"Wait… you're a man?!" I hear Kiba shout from upstairs in confusion and disgust alike.

...

Mother. Fucker.


	8. Chapter 8

Playing Blind

Chapter 8,

I do not own anything pertaining to either Naruto or The Gamer.

《PB》

I didn't spend too much time training the first night that Team Eight, Karin and I all congregated in Nami, instead running a patrol around Tazuna's family home in a randomized pattern to check the peripherals of the outermost points of my sensory range.

Everything was clear from where I sat on the roof of the Ichigeki household, though I had Karin do a few sweeps with her much more potent third eye to double check every few hours while surrounded by a platoon of Shadow Clones, just to be certain.

I can actively sense Hinata staring at me with her Byakugan from a few feet behind me and down about eight feet, which is just the creepiest thing ever due to how unmoving her gaze is.

I don't like it, not one bit.

I have Hinata watching me like a creep, Shino spying on me with his bugs while he rests and Kiba probably listening to my every breath at this very moment, actually. I applaud their caution, but I really wish the brats would get some rest while they can or at least come join me on the roof for a chat. I'd love to pick their brains about a few subjects, but I highly doubt they'd be up for talks about the nature of Chakra or it's nigh unlimited versatility.

Those kids aren't the people they would eventually become and I need to actively remind myself of that.

Haku remained unconscious beside me, two of my chains wrapped firmly around their arms, legs and hands to prevent them from hitting me with any senbon or Hyouton techniques if they somehow magically escaped my chains.

Something nifty about the [Adamantine Sealing Chains] is that once you spend the Chakra to summon them, it no longer costs Chakra to sustain. This means that despite spending a thousand points to bind Haku so thoroughly as to keep them incapacitated, I can keep them there forever with no extra cost. 

Hell, I could even use them as a Chakra battery if I was so inclined, once I figure out how to drain Chakra, of course.

If I never dispel my chains and keep, say, thirty active and shrunk down before being wrapped around my waist, arms, legs and torso, all hidden beneath my robes, the only Chakra I have to spend afterwards is the cost of forging new chain lengths to extend their range. This not only saves me an absolute fuckton of Chakra in the future, but it also practically doubles as armor, since the lengths are nigh unbreakable.

I have basically become the Uzumaki version of Doctor Octopus in a way, but better because I don't have a bowl cut and I have more than eight extra limbs now.

I have thirty six.

Plus, it makes my robes look like they have a teal colored underglow, which is pretty rad if Karin isn't just saying that to butter me up.

Beyond finding yet another way to bend the System to benefit me, I used [Psychometry] on Kubikiribocho on a whim and had my brain almost melted when it dumped four different skills worth of information straight into my noggin.

[Silent Killing] started out at level ten, [Kirigakure no Jutsu] started at eight, [Ventriloquism] started at level five and I gained a bonus ten levels to my [Kenjutsu Mastery], all four skills being the most used across all of Kubikiribocho's previous wielders. 

Between now knowing how to move like an actual ninja, execute flawless attacks that target the eight vital points and operate in perfect silence thanks to [Silent Killing], being able to blind my opponents to further disadvantage them with [Kirigakure no Jutsu], throw my voice to confuse my opponents and actually wield a blade larger than a dagger, I'm feeling mighty confident in leaning towards a Taijutsu/Kenjutsu/Fuin-Ninjutsu build, so to speak.

It also turns out that the sword is semi-sentient and absolutely despises the Uzumaki clan after the Clan Head at the time killed the blacksmith who forged the Seven Swords of Kirigakure for daring to betray his family.

That's right, the man who forged Kirigakure's most feared weapons was an Uzumaki, and the brother of the man who would be known to history as Ashina Uzumaki. Apparently the man was so upset about his brother being chosen as Clan Head by their father that he was willing to sign away all of the Uzumaki blacksmithing secrets and techniques that he had mastered after failing to kill his brother and being forced into exile.

If you ask me, I'm pretty sure this is not canon, and that I'm not in a canon compliant universe. This is made doubly obvious by the fact that Sarutobi sent Kurenai Yuhi on the famed Nami mission and not Kakashi. 

Did Other-Nemui being born in this world cause so many ripples as to only vaguely resemble canon at first until it snowballs into something completely unrecognizable and quite frankly, nightmarish?

Just what other changes have taken place and what changes are happening as we speak that I can't account for?

Well, these questions can't be answered at the moment, yet I can't help but ponder the ramifications of the Nami mission going so far awry as it has so far.

Zabuza is in full health, but lacks his two main weapons and thus won't dare make a move before I do first. Kurenai should be waking up in another few hours, as her body is no longer wounded and a Chakra infusion from myself ensured her coils were topped off.

Team Eight was good as well, health and Chakra wise, though I think all three could do with seeing a Yamanaka that isn't Ino when they get home, just to be safe. They don't have [Gamer's Mind] to basically minimize their chances of developing shell shock like I do. 

The timeline has already suffered irreversible damage, as far as I'm concerned, so I may as well kiss most of my canon knowledge goodbye except for the hard facts and rigid cast itself.

This also means that the future is a tossup from this moment on, and any actions that I take will only lead the timeline further astray. Slaughtering Gatou and his men are now my responsibility and not Zabuza's, so that's already one change that's coming to pass. Zabuza and Haku might not die here either, meaning that also changes the timeline even further.

There isn't much more I can immediately predict as far as changes go beyond Konoha now becoming aware of there being two more Uzumaki in the world than they already knew about, unless they somehow knew about Other-Nemui already.

Man, I'm hoping he doesn't have a bad rep with anyone important loyal to any of the big five ninja villages, because I still have no idea who the two people I have negative one thousand reputation with are.

The sound of Team Eight suddenly becoming active beneath me snaps me from my thoughts, and it's only then that I notice I can feel the warmth of the sun on my skin.

It sucks not being able to watch the sun rise in the morning, but I know it's only a matter of time before I get good enough in Fuinjutsu to remove the Juinjutsu sealing my eyes away, especially since that my parties next destination is going to be Uzushiogakure, whether Zabuza and Haku join me or I end up killing both.

Ignoring my current inability to properly praise the sun in all of its incandescent glory, I casually float down to the window leading into the room Team Eight was given as temporary lodgings and tap on the glass gently. I can sense that Hinata was still watching me like a hawk the entire time and this is further proven by the fact that she met me at the window seconds after I knocked on the pane.

I really hope she's already obsessed with Naruto right now, I don't need a stalker who isn't already my apprentice in my life at the moment.

Damn, it's wild I really just wished that on someone else. I really am losing my Humanity here.

"Is everything alright? I thought I heard a commotion down here." I question casually, ignoring the choking noises of Kiba and the confused buzzing coming from Shino behind her, since they probably just noticed I'm standing on the air itself and all.

"Yes… everything is fine," Hinata eventually squeaks in a confused tone, probably wondering how to replicate what she was no doubt seeing with her Byakugan, "Our Sensei is finally waking up, do you think you can… give us a few minutes?"

Ah, right, debriefings and all that fun stuff. I keep forgetting I'm dealing with child soldiers who followed a rigid chain of command here and not chaotic neutral entities who answer to no one like Karin and myself.

Well, Karin answers to me, and is going to answer for her grievous crimes against my clothing and hair soon enough, but that's not the point here.

"That's fine, I'll be downstairs or outside somewhere if you guys need me for anything." I say after offering the shy girl a nod and a jaunty wave before allowing the platform beneath my feet to descent downwards like an elevator.

It didn't take long after touching down on the dew covered lawn to make my way to the back door and into the kitchen, where Karin, Tsunami, Tazuna and Inari were having breakfast.

"Good morning, folks." I greeted the four at once while making my way towards the kitchen to make a small plate of the fish my Shadow Clones had brought back that weren't used as improvised projectile weapons against Zabuza's clones. "Everyone sleep well?"

"We both know I didn't sleep long." Karin grouses loudly while Tazuna and Inari just grunted like zombies.

Tsunami, however, offered a far more pleasant greeting. "I slept wonderfully, thank you. This home hasn't felt this lively in years, or safe."

Ah, my heart.

Ophis bless this woman.

[Blessing Accepted!]

Wait.

What.

I don't notice any immediate changes in the world, but I can't shake the feeling I just fucked up somehow.

Okay, from now on, that name is forboden. No more mentioning the names of higher entities period, as a matter of fact.

Fuck that.

The sound of four sets of feet beating in sync coming down the stairs at once was interesting enough to interrupt my inner mental breakdown after successfully evoking a God that doesn't exist in this dimension, so I come back into the dinning room with two plates and remained by the back door, just in case.

Kurenai's Chakra felt a bit off, but that was likely because it was pinging my third eye as my own still while overlapping her weaker Chakra signature. It was like holding a piece of paper over a bright light, in a way, with Kurenai's naturally produced Chakra being the paper.

The Genin seemed to be resolute, but it was clear that Hinata was suffering from something I will probably later identify as early stalker syndrome. Shino, Kiba and Akamaru, however, seemed to be in pretty decent spirits given the circumstances. I say that because Shino seems to be experiencing an extreme sugar rush off of the Chakra I force fed his bugs through the night, and Kiba because he seems to have gotten over his sexual identity crisis and settled on whatever it is he had in mind.

All in all, it was good to see Team Eight whole and mostly well after encountering an A-lister on a C-Rank mission.

"Good morning, Tazuna and… everyone. I… apologize for my failures from the bottom of my heart, and hope you find it in your heart to forgive me." Kurenai starts off in a somber tone while bowing at the waist in Tazuna's direction, "I promised I would help you free this land, and I am obviously incapable of doing so. If not for the assistance of the pink haired stranger over there, my team and I, and you, would have perished."

Damn, woman, play with the other one for a bit, righty is going numb.

"It's not your fault, Kurenai-san," Tazuna replies after a moment of silence before sighing and shaking his head, ",nothing would have ever made me believe Gatou would hire someone like that to take me down, but I guess I underestimated how far he was willing to go to stop my super bridge project."

I mean, it should have been pretty obvious that the overly rich, little man syndrome having shipping tycoon named Gatou wouldn't want his cash cow to up and flee the ranch, but maybe that's the benefit of metaknowledge or common sense speaking.

Everyone knows that anyone with any meaningful amount of Chakra ends up pretty lacking up stairs after a while.

"Regardless, I swear on my honor as a Shinobi of Konoha to see this mission through, as do my student's. If you will still have us, we promise to see this bridge built and Gatou's stranglehold on Nami ended once and for all." Kurenai finishes with passion in her tone, and I would have clapped for her had my hands not been occupied by two servings of breakfast.

If I didn't know any better, I'd think my Chakra may have given her some kind of hidden Charisma buff or something.

Man, I wonder just what my Chakra does to other people? How do I find this out without human experimentation? 

Food for thought later, I suppose. Right now though, Shino and Kurenai are prime candidates to keep an eye out for as far as earlier symptoms go, like increased passion and a sugar-rush like physical energy levels.

"Well luckily for everyone involved, my daughter has a keen eye when it comes to looking for help, isn't that right Tsunami?" Tazuna tries to lighten the mood and shift the conversation away from himself at once.

That was very politician-like, old man. Nice.

"Yes, well, after going into town and finding ten of Gatou's men turned into scarecrows on the side of the road, I thought it would be nice to have someone able to do that and walk away protecting Inari and me while you were still away." Tsunami says after finishing her last bite of fish and standing to take her plate to the kitchen, "It was quite the nice display after what that group did to Ibumi last month."

I can practically feel the venom in her voice wash over me like a wave.

Damn, I don't even know how to address that. What do I even say, if anything?

Nah, it's best not to speak unless spoken to with these folks, just to be sure.

"Speaking of strangers, may I ask the name of the man who saved my life?" Kurenai once more speaks up, though this time her gaze is aimed directly at me.

"Nemui Uzumaki, nice to meet you, miss…?" I trail off, because obviously I technically shouldn't know the names of anyone here besides Karin, Tsunami, Tazuna and Inari quite yet.

"Kurenai Yuhi, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." Kurenai nods in my direction before gesturing her head towards the door. "Do you mind if I speak to you, alone?"

Welp, fuck. There goes my plans for breakfast and interrogations, the best part of any morning ritual.

《PB》

The first minute that Kurenai and I stood across from one another with my cute little hostage still bound up in my chains off to the side was filled by tense silence.

Finally, the woman seems to have gathered her nerves enough to say what she means to say.

"My students tell me you drove Zabuza away." Kurenai starts off, deciding to start with the most pressing issue she needs clarity on, "How?"

"It was easy, I stole his weapon, threatened the life of his fake Hunter-nin apprentice to stall for a minute, then offered him a way to get both back without either being hurt any further." I say as if it were the most obvious thing in the world after taking a nibble of the fish Tsunami cooked and swallowing, "there was obviously a lot of violence involved, but you get the idea. I personally think I spooked him."

And I'm being serious, too. Something about me admitting to being an Uzumaki made Zabuza's Chakra go cold like he was just given a death sentence, it was pretty bizarre. 

One of us must have traumatized him in his past or something, if I had to hazard a guess.

"I see.." Kurenai says in a tone that makes me believe that she doesn't understand, "and you were somehow able to reattach my arm?"

"That too. My apprentice and I studied under Tsunade for a while, she taught me quite a bit." I say while not outright saying that I only had four days of proper medical training and classroom styled lessons under my belt. "It was much easier than I thought it would be."

Now that part is an outright lie, but I have no tells to indicate I'm actually lying due to having near perfect control of all of my musculature. 

[+300 Reputation with Kurenai Yuhi!]

Hell yes.

"I… don't know if I could ever repay you, but I owe you a massive debt for not only saving my team and I, but this mission as well. If we went home now and they heard about what's happened…" Kurenai trails off and then clams up, likely thinking she has ssid far too much.

In a way, she has. Now I can make a deal here using her mission as bait.

It's obvious that this is Kurenai's first big mission leading a Genin team, and a successful A rank under her belt as a rookie Jounin is sure to look good on her resume.

Oh yes, I can work with this.

"Well, your mission is what, to protect Tazuna until he finishes his bridge?" I question while tilting my head slightly, even if I already knew the answer to the question.

"... Yes, that's the gist of it." Kurenai admits after mulling over whether admitting that or not would have consequences, "why do you ask?"

"Well you see, I, too, have a mission, though it's more… violent in nature." I say after deciding the best way to approach my proposal. "Specifically, to kill Gatou, seize his assets, liberate Nami and restore it to glory. I'll obviously do all of the heavy lifting, but I could use some logistical support."

"And who signed off on this mission?" Kurenai questions almost at once, on guard for any sudden hostilities on my part.

"Me, myself and I, obviously. My apprentice thinks it's the right thing to do as well, I guess." I say after shrugging, knowing that she's basically asking if I was loyal to one of the many enemies Konoha has made over the years. "We were on a pilgrimage to Uzushio and this is the first island of three we needed to stop at to reach our destination. Obviously we don't like the look of things here, so we're going to do something about it."

"Wait… Uzushio… where is that, exactly?" Kurenai questions after a moment of silence while bringing a hand up to stroke her chin in confusion, "you said your name was Uzumaki, right? Does that mean you're from a clan or something?"

Oh wow, that's right, I forget most people in Konoha from the most recent generation have been fed horse shit in the academy and beyond. Apparently that extends to the new Jounin as well.

"Yes, the Uzumaki were, are, a clan. We're direct cousin's of the Senju and partially helped found your village. Hell, your Chuunin and Jounin wear our clan symbol on your backs to this very day." I explain with a sigh, knowing that Kurenai is already connecting a few dots in her head. "Why, do you know any other Uzumaki or something?"

"I'm… not at liberty to say." Kurenai finally says in a very deliberate tone, indicating that yes, she does know another Uzumaki.

Obviously, she's thinking about Naruto.

"Ah, I see…" I say, trailing off for a moment before returning the conversation to the previous point before we were sidetracked. "So, about that logistical help?"

And so the conversation continued. It continued for so long, as a matter of fact, that her Genin team and Karin alike came to figure out what was taking so long.

"Ah, you were right, Hinata, there she is!" Kiba calls out loud enough for Kurenai and I to both put a lid on our conversation, since it contains material not quite fit for the ears of Genin, "Hey, Kurenai-Sensei, are you ready for our training or do you need a bit longer?"

"Ah, Kiba, I almost forgot." Kurenai stands and brushes her knees off, both of us having sat down to discuss my plans on raiding Gatou using an extremely thorough search and destroy protocol developed by Konoha. "Yes, we can get to that now, if you'd like. Tazuna-san won't be working on his bridge for at least a few more days, so we have some time to prepare. Did you get what you needed, Nemui-san?"

"Oh yes, I think I know all I need. Thank you for your insight, Kurenai-san." I reply back while rising and brushing the dirt from my knees while lifting Haku from the ground as well with my chains. "If you'll excuse us, my apprentice and I need to have a little chat with our cute little friend here before I get started with my plans." 

"Have fun, and let me know if you need any help. We will be keeping an eye on the area here while you finish your business." Kurenai nods in my direction before gesturing for her students to follow her back towards the house, "Now, You three are proficient in Surface Clinging thanks to your clan trai-"

Karin and I remain in the clearing that Kurenai and I once occupied for only a few moments more before we continued on our way.

I had a prisoner to crack.

《PB》

"I'll… never… tell… you!" Haku snarled, panting heavily as they struggled to regain their breath, red in the face and very clearly having a rough time resisting my advanced interrogation techniques.

"Come on, snowball, I've already told you that I'm not trying to kill your master. I promised to find him in two days, but how am I supposed to do that if I don't know where he is?" I ask, holding back for a moment while I wait for my 'guest' to recover a bit more, "look, Gatou is paying you two to kill Tazuna, not guard his life. If you help me by telling me where Gatou likes to hide out, I will personally pay you the amount he was promising, without you having to do a thing but stand by. Isn't that a good deal?"

"... I don't believe you." Haku says more evenly than before, their voice and Chakra wavering in a way that indicated I was starting to get through to them. "Why should I trust that you won't just stab us in the back?"

"Look, sweet cheeks, I want you two to team up with my apprentice and me, alright? Killing you would be counter-productive when you two are much more valuable alive, healthy and happy." I say while twirling the very large feather I had been tickling Haku's feet with savagely for the past half-hour, "Zabuza wants to free Kiri from Yagura, and I find my goals aligning the same way. The enemy of my enemy, you know?"

"... You swear that you won't betray my master and I if I tell you what you want to know?" Haku questions in a small voice while watching the feather I was passing from hand to hand warily, "I don't think I can take much more of that thing."

"Oh darn, and I was just getting warmed up." I sigh while passing Karin back the large feather I had been using as an improvised torture device, "I'm glad you see the light, snowball. Now, where can I find Gatou right about now, and where do most of his men congregate at any one time?"

[+50 Reputation with Haku Yuki!]

I had them eating out of the palm of my hand before long.

《PB》

A few hours after breaking Haku in a way they obviously weren't trained to resist, I found myself standing on the shore of a small bay on the opposite side of Nami, staring out at my target while mentally preparing myself for what I was about to do.

Gatou was not at his main headquarters like Haku had thought they would be. I would know, I personally checked.

When I say personally checked, I mean I had multiple Shadow Clones lock down every entrance and exit out of the rather large building with improvised uses of Mokuton and Haton Chakra manipulation and entered that building with only one intention in mind.

Between light uses of [Shunshin no Jutsu], [Kirigakure no Jutsu] and [Silent Killing], I had very little issue taking down the hundred and sixty three mercenaries and Ronin within the four floored building. Most people were not used to fighting blind, let alone an opponent who was so far out of their league and very much in their element once one of my spare wakizashi's began swinging.

It was unfair, and quite possibly going to keep me up for a few nights, but in the end I walked away taking less than ten thousand points in damage, while not a single soul that wasn't a prostitute walked away. It turns out that I couldn't just kill everyone there like I intended, because I never considered there would be prostitutes and sex slaves involved.

What started out as a massacre that may or may not have been warranted ended up becoming a rescue mission that had been long, long overdue.

So many… I can't…

[Gamer's Mind Active!]

Yes, yes, System, I know.

I know all too well now.

So I walked out of that building with dozens and dozens of people in tow, one million ryo and many interesting documents richer, but hollow.

I knew it would be bad, even tried to wrap my head around it since I planned on taking this nation over as my first step towards surviving the inevitable future.

I couldn't even begin to understand how low Gatou and his men would go. I wish I didn't know now.

I wish people like Gatou, and those one hundred and sixty three dead bandits never existed.

I would have to make my wish come true, personally.

A burst of Chakra lifts me from the shores and I take off toward the yacht that contained the man who was now fated to die by my hands by the Will of the Planet.

I'm not going to keep my System Admin waiting much longer.

《PB》

The front deck of the large sea vessel that hid away my first actual target in this world was empty save a small platoon of guards that were far too drunk to notice my approach, or my blade when I beheaded them all in the span of seconds.

The six thousand experience and another level to my kenjutsu mastery was well worth the effort of killing these scum.

My way into the cabin was blocked by some thug wearing a beanie who probably thought he was hot shit, but he too was rendered a corpse and stuffed into my inventory with little more than a small application of Chakra and a flick of my wrist. His comrade inside, a shirtless man, was balls deep in an unconscious woman and thus was in no position to defend himself when I threw my wakizashi like a projectile, piercing him directly through the forehead.

[-2851 HP!]

The woman didn't wake up, despite the spray of viscera, so I left a Shadow Clone to try and heal her and help her get off the ship while claiming the wannabe Samurai's blade as my own after shoving his corpse and the wakizashi gored through his dome into my personal hammerspace. 

It was a rather nice blade as far as stats went, but nothing to write home about. It's history told a story of pillaging, rape and bloodshed, none of which appealed to me in any way, but it did grant a bit of experience towards [Kenjutsu Mastery], as did his dead partners equally as mediocre katana.

[Psychometry] was turning out to be a double edged sword the more I used it. Sure, it granted quite a lot of experience in many different skills, but using it on blades whose users were as disgusting as Waraji and Zori, not even mentioning the hundred and fifty other dead thugs and slavers, it really did something to the mind.

Very unpleasant things, and I've seen far too much now to let this sort of thing continue uncontested. The quest that I couldn't deny wouldn't let me, and my conscience wouldn't either.

I picked apart every single person on that yacht that wasn't there by force, fifty four to be exact, and finally found Gatou hiding away like the rat he was in the lowest, furthest reaches he could run. He was nearly incoherent by the time I had hauled him back up to the deck bound in a few lengths of my thirty four active chains, even more so by the time my Shadow Clones had figured out how to pilot the yacht back towards the bay Tazuna lived by.

The travel time was much longer than it would have been had I just flown back to Tazuna's to offer little Inari the chance to avenge Kaiza, but it gave me ample time to extract all of the information I needed from Gatou to completely take control of his company and assets with little anyone else could do to stop me, if anything.

He kept all of his physical cash and other valuables in a safe on an island not too far off the beaten path for me to stop and verify for myself after once more forcing Gatou to tell me all I needed to know to bypass the security features of his rather large vault of treasure.

I am now around ten million ryo richer now in cash alone, and that's not even counting the jewels, jewelry, bars of gold, crowns, the list goes on.

Gatou had enough in that one vault alone to fund Nami's recovery, and he had told me the location of upwards of six that exist on the different islands that make up the outer archipelago of Nami. 

Obviously I'm going to keep about four of them for myself and my allies to use to fund future projects, but I don't mind using a third of Gatou's riches to make Nami thrive.

More than thirty Shadow Clones were deployed to finish snagging up Gatou's valuables before his goons inevitably heard of his soon to be execution by the time the Yacht was coming close enough to the Ichigeki household that it wouldn't be troublesome to keep an eye on it. It didn't take long for the cash to physically start pouring in as my clones returned carrying actual carts full of gold, diamonds and other various goods that I would be needing to kickstart Nami's economy.

It didn't stop there, either. Once my Chakra had recovered from sending out the first wave of clones, I sent out another group of thirty to begin rounding up the citizens of Nami to inform them of the soon to be a public celebration.

Gatou was completely incoherent as I had a single clone inform Karin and the rest that I was successful in capturing Gatou, who led the Ichigeki family to the same spot Kaiza was executed all those years ago.

By the time Team Eight, Karin, our current captive Haku who was bound at the throat by my apprentices chains and the Ichigeki family arrived, close to a hundred residents had formed a large crowd around the tree I had grown to restrain Gatou. My clones had taken to passing out stones to the small children present to throw at the man as a form of petty revenge, and it had gone quite a long way with earning the respect of the parents who understood why I was letting the children go first.

I broke away from beside Gatou while leaving a clone there to keep him healed up to prolong the celebration a bit more to approach Tazuna and his family, who seemed like they had been given the greatest gift in the world if their Chakra signatures meant what I think they meant.

[+500 Reputation with Nami no Kuni!]

[+500 Reputation with Tazuna Ichigeki!]

[+500 Reputation with Tsunami Ichigeki!]

[+500 Reputation with Inari Ichigeki!]

[+200 Reputation with Kurenai Yuhi!]

[+100 Reputation with Karin Uzumaki!]

[Quest Complete!]

[All Your Base Are Belong To Us!]

[Gatou's reign of terror has been brought to an end, and with that, a new day dawns over Nami no Kuni.]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[+1 Deed to Gatou Shipping!]

[+1 Skill Tome: Seal Projection!]

《New Title Acquired: Chishio no Nemui》  
《+10% damage towards Human opponent's when equipped with a blade.》

Oh holy damn, System, give a guy a warning before you just load my weird enough vision up with pop ups!

I dismiss the many notifications cluttering my periphery and save figuring that all out later, instead offering Inari my tanto to use to do the honor of putting Gatou down.

I wasn't the only one cheering him on when that blade came down, allowing Kaiza and those who died under Gatou's boot to finally rest in peace now that the ones they left behind were released of their indentured status.

With a few hundred deaths and most of the world ignorant of the coming storm, freedom rang loudly in Nami.


	9. Chapter 9

Playing Blind

Chapter 9,

I do not own anything pertaining to either Naruto or The Gamer.

《PB》

The celebrations went on well into the night, and I was forced to retire when everyone currently residing in the Ichigeki household finally called it quits. Inari had fallen asleep crying in his mother's arms, though they weren't tears of sadness.

Everyone was in much better spirits now that the shadow of Gatou no longer loomed over them, his body still bound to the tree I grew specially just for him, since trees don't usually have large, phallus shaped pegs to hold a man in position in a very specific fashion that I don't really want to acknowledge consciously.

I'm sure Zabuza knows that I was successful by now, but I just don't feel like dealing with him at the moment. My head just isn't in the best place to be bargaining for his cooperation.

So instead, I once more took my place on the roof of the Ichigeki household after repossessing Haku from Karin to allow my apprentice to rest. Team Eight had settled into a proper search and patrol routine, so I allowed my guard to slip a bit while I tried to mentally process the events that had transpired in the last few hours. First thing is first, however, is checking out the skill tome that I just recieved, and that other skill book I completely forgot about.

Well, let's see here…

I pull the rather large tome from my inventory, too hefty to be a book but too small to be a grimoire, and immediately see a window pop up in my periphery.

[Do you wish to learn the skill: Seal Projection]

[Y]/[N]

I obviously select 'Yes', but another window pops up soon after that bums me out.

[Unable to learn: Fuinjutsu Mastery must be at level 100 to learn this skill!]

Welp, should have seen that coming. How about that other one, then?

[Do you wish to learn the skill: Kami-e]

[Y]/[N]

I once more select 'Yes' mentally, and once more I am met with a rejection screen.

[Unable to learn skill: skill requires 75 DEX to learn!]

"What, exactly, are you trying to do?" I hear Haku question as I throw the book back into my inventory, "Where did that book just go? What?"

"Yeah, I can bend space and time, forgot to mention that." I say while causally scratching my chin, deciding to have fun messing with Haku's mind like they did me for years in my past life. "I can also do magic tricks, like pulling apples out of people's ears."

"That sounds preposterous." Haku says after a moment of silence, "I believe you."

"Oh? Glad you do." I admit while reaching over and pretending to pluck a [Pearl Apple] from behind their ear, "Hmm, a little strange colored, but it looks fine to me otherwise."

"It's… pretty." Haku admits in a tone that was as confused as they come, "Why does it look like that?"

"Oh, I grew them specially, they restore Chakra at a strong rate for an hour. One of these bad boys will keep you training when you should have burned your coils out." I say while offering it out for Haku to take, who looked down at their bound arms and legs before looking back at me in an unamused fashion. "Oh, right. I'll just feed you, then, no biggie. We'll be going to talk to your master in the morning, so you'll just have to put up with me for a few hours more."

"You know, this has been an enlightening experience." Haku admits after hesitantly taking a bite of the apple I was offering after I held it near to their mouth, "I was expecting… well, much worse treatment, especially since the last thing I remember is you blowing off my arm before I woke up wrapped in chains."

"Well if you haven't noticed by now, I reattached your arm. Sorry about that, by the way, my clone was just following orders and I desperately needed a way to get Zabuza to stand down." I say after a few moments of silence, now knowing probably exactly what kind of treatment Haku was talking about after all of the shit I've seen tonight. "I still don't even know if you're a boy or a girl, so obviously I respect your privacy enough to have to ask instead of just checking for myself when I could."

"And why is that, anyway?" Haku questions while completely avoiding the topic of their gender, "why not just figure it out yourself?"

"Is that an offer, sweet cheeks? Just a warning, I'm into women exclusively, but I may just make an exception for you." I tease, knowing good and goddamn well I was lying through my teeth.

I seriously need to get laid or something, this pent up energy is just insane. Uzumaki virility will never cease to amaze me, this isn't at all what it was like dealing with during puberty in my past life. 

[+100 Reputation with Haku Yuki!]

"I, you… that's not very funny, you shouldn't be so crass." Haku stammers after I grin knowingly when they fail to provide an immediate answer, "And here I thought I was starting to somewhat enjoy your company."

"Oh come on, snowball, you don't want to ride the Uzumaki Express? I hear it's the trip of a lifetime." I continue to tease, causing Haku to huff and turn their head in embarrassment. "Fine, fine, but if you ever change your mind…"

When it becomes clear that Haku now has far too much on their mind to be good conversation, unless I want to keep going and melt their brain, that is, I should probably check out my stat page and figure that out while I have a few moments.

[Stats]'

[Stats]

Name: Nemui

Title: Chishio no Nemui

Level: 42 [33,721/60,240]

Race: Human

Clan: [Uzumaki]

Class: [Ronin],[Sage],[?]

HP: 310,002/310,002 [+9/s]

CP: 37,684/37,684 [+10/s]/[-20/5s]

CC: 100%

VIT: 121

END: 61

STR: 50

DEX: 50

INT: 100

WIS: 29

LUK: 20

Ryo: 62,918,230

SP Available: 42

Hmm, not bad, but I'm getting rather annoyed by my wisdom no longer going up.

The way my stats break down, I'm starting to wonder if my health regeneration speed is tied into endurance while my chakra recovery rate is tied into wisdom. That's how it usually works with [Gamer]'s, right?

To test my theory, I say fuck it and dump twenty one points into wisdom before accepting the changes and dismissing the menu.

[For reaching 50 in WIS, you have been awarded a random perk from the WIS category!]

[Perk list updated!]

A quick check of my rather impressive perk list revealed a gem that was almost enough to be classified as broken.

[Combat Meditation] - [Permanently increases the User's base Chakra recovery to 5% a minute.]

Five percent a minute.

That means that my Chakra recovers completely in twenty minutes flat, no matter how high my reserves go.

Hell, that means my recovery is around thirty a second or something like that? I'd have to write it all out to see the math involved, but that sounds about right since I currently have thirty thousand points in Chakra.

Holy shit, I can spend my Chakra at a ridiculous rate with this perk!

Wait, that actually means I recover around a hundred and fifty points a second when I activate [Kuji-Kiri], since it increases my recovery rate by five hundred and thirty percent at level thirty three.

Holy shit, that's a lot of Chakra.

If I could grind [Yoton:Rin] to level one hundred, it would cost me fifty points a second to keep active, which I will inevitably reach if my potential for growth is truly unlimited.

I'll eventually be able to keep skills like that going indefinitely, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. What about lightning armor? Sage Mode? Body expansion? 

How many of these skills can I get up and running at once, anyway? Would they even stack like I theorize they can?

Damn, I sure wish Tsunade had taught me that one seal she uses to store her spare Chakra, do you know how broken that skill would be right now?

"What exactly did you just do?" Haku questions after a moment of silence, "I don't notice anything obvious, but I swear I just felt something about you change." 

Oh, I almost forgot Haku was still here. Hmm, I should probably wait to do anything else crazy around them until I can buy their masters loyalty, but this also provides me a chance to learn a few skills from Haku without having to give up my own.

It turns out [Psychometry] works on people, too, after I was forced to use it on Gatou on our way back to Sector One to double check if he was lying to me or not, since I only knew it would work in theory and not practice and needed to be sure.

As expected, the coward was lying and had a few boobie trapped vaults he was hoping I'd die checking.

I decide to say fuck it yet again and force the chains around Haku to drag them closer so I don't have yo get up from my comfortable spot leaning against the chimney, causing them to squawk indignantly before questioning what I was doing once more.

They go quiet when I place my index finger on their forehead and activate [Psychometry] for the first time, drawing their memories from their early childhood in and subsuming them as my own. The conflicting memories were jarring at first, but my mind seemed to comprehend their foreign status and stored them away in a manner that doesn't cause an identity crisis.

The second use started to paint a more thorough picture of their early childhood and the death of her father at… her hands.

Hah! I fucking knew you weren't a guy you filthy liar!

I was almost tempted to stop there, but I persist and begin to receive skills for my effort, like… [Gender Obfuscation]?

What.

Okay, well that info dump was particularly enlightening, and now I know I can go and activate my Trap Card whenever I want, but overall, useless to me.

[Futon Chakra Mastery] and [Hyouton Chakra Mastery], however, were immediately more useful.

Much, much more useful, as the sixth and seventh usage of [Psychometry] increased [Hyouton Chakra Mastery] to level twenty seven and gave me [Stealth Mastery] and [Assassination Mastery] as well.

Why the fuck is there an [Assassination Mastery] skill?

How does that even deserve a skill?

Well, regardless, I seem to now have skills that passively make me sneakier and better at assassinating people, which is just a whole can of worms in and of itself. That's cool.

I'm the most ninja-like hobo ever, and you can believe that.

By the eighth, ninth and tenth use of [Psychometry], there was nothing that Haku knew that I couldn't replicate myself, including her [Demonic Ice Mirrors], which was always one of my favorite techniques from the series I've found myself now a part of in an odd and rather unwanted way.

Distance only makes the heart grow fonder and holy fuck was I missing my bed right about now.

Unfortunately, I can't really afford to sleep again for at least a few more days, so until then, I've got some new skills to get good with.

Haku didn't know what to say when I started my [Hyouton Chakra Mastery] training by turning [Kirigakure no Jutsu] into [Fubukigakure no Jutsu], nor did the residences of the Ichigeki household when I basically summoned a thick blizzard on top of their heads.

Oh man, making new jutsu is really turning into a hobby. This is just fun.

"Come on, sweet cheeks, let's go make a snowman. Hmm, now where did I put that carrot Karin threw at me yesterday…?"

"...how?"

Some questions, Haku, are best left unanswered.

"Because I can, and snowmen are awesome."

This wasn't one of them.

"That isn't…"

Ah, I just love breaking people.

"Why in the super fuck is it snowing?! It's July, and in Nami! I CAN'T SEE SHIT, WHERE AM I?!"

Oh, I forgot Tazuna was out here sitting out by where they buried Kaiza. Sorry old man, not sorry.

[PB]

After having fun with Haku in the snow for a few hours, the rest of my night was spent trying to animate my snowmen to become a nightmarish instant army skill, but sadly I could only create [Snow Clones] and [Ice Clones] based on my understanding of Hyouton Chakra as it is now.

That said, it's still pretty useful because I can just cause them to explode outwards in ice spikes, and if I can figure out how to mix Ice Clones and Shadow Clones in the future, their durability would increase exponentially, since they would have a solid exterior and not a thin shell of Chakra to take the hits my enemies can and will dish out.

Now if only I can create clones that could hold more than five hundred points of Chakra, that would be fucking rad. 

Outside of recreating new jutsu and having my now fifty Shadow Clones working on various skills to bring my mastery levels up, I started working on an economic plan for Nami's recovery that should, in theory, turn this country into a financial powerhouse within the next few months, let alone years.

Since I now own Gatou's assets and the deed to his company, I am technically the de facto leader of Nami now, and if I'm going to rule a nation, I'm going to do it right.

That is, of course, as long as it benefits me in some way. I'm not selfless enough to dedicate the rest of my life to these people without getting something out of it, not when I have so many women to meet and places to discover still.

And jutsu to learn, I guess, but if I don't get laid sometime soon, I could actually explode, so getting laid is obviously going to be at the top of my list.

What am I at, three weeks without rubbing one out? With these genetics? Fuck all that, man, it ain't fun or pleasant.

My building sexual tension and fears about my stunted emotional capacity aside, I'm confident in my ability to drag this country into the twenty first century kicking and screaming, since that's the best way to do anything. Luckily, the cotton gin and the printing press are already things, as are distilleries, so mass producing poorly reproduced books, whiskey and other very necessary commodities from Earth shouldn't be too difficult to get started.

Or any plant based goods, either, like tobacco or hemp. And food, too, I guess, since I probably should make sure my people actually eat.

I know I probably shouldn't pick up smoking, but it's a familiar habit and damn do I want to regardless.

So, the first thing I did after passing Haku over to Karin to babysit for a few more hours while I handled business was track down a hungover Tazuna and convince him to introduce me to his more entrepreneurial friends. It turns out that quite a few were smart enough to manage the projects I have in mind, and judicious use of [Observe] made sure none were foolish enough to try to fuck me over.

Once word had started to spread that I was bankrolling projects that were aimed towards the immediate benefit of those who needed it most, such as vertical farming operations in unused warehouses to kickstart year-round food production, I had people swarming me and asking for help in no time.

It wasn't long after that those same people chosen to represent the civilian body of Nami had an emergency meeting to effectively name me leader of Nami's new executive, judicial and legislative branches of government.

My new title to go with the position, however, was not Daimyo like I expected it to be.

[Congratulations! As a result of gaining prestige and displays of martial prowess, your 《Ronin》 class has evolved to 《Shogun》!]

I'm pretty much a Warlord now, though I'm not sure if it's actually beneficial to me in any way, since I have no idea what my class skills or benefits even are in the first place.

Nice.

[PB]

Haku jittered nervously as Karin and I touched down after flying her over the slums of Sector Seven on my back not long after we finally convinced her to tell us where Zabuza was holed up.

Finding out that an angry man with a giant sword fetish was hanging out just past a place called Sector Seven had actually made me genuinely laugh for the first time in what felt like weeks, but had generally left Haku and Karin confused since they wouldn't understand the irony here in the first place.

I didn't even know how to explain to them that finding a man with spiky hair and a love for all things big and slicey in an area called Sector Seven wasn't all that surprising to me, so I didn't bother and left them to question my sanity in silence as we flew.

Zabuza was outside his hideout waiting for us, unsurprisingly. 

He immediately clammed up when he noticed Karin and his Chakra did a weird little loopdiloop.

"My god there's fucking two of them…" I faintly hear, his whisper carried by the wind.

Oh, good, I don't have to point out the obvious here, then.

"Good morning to you too, Zabuza." I say while gently urging Haku forward until my party of two plus my hostage came to a rest just outside of Zabuza's comfort zone. "I come bearing good news, and a gift, no need to be so tense."

"You didn't fucking tell me you had another Uzumaki with you, you twisted freak." Zabuza growls lowly while jerking his head towards the ground, "Now give me my fucking weapon back, and the sword too."

I feel Haku wince slightly under the chains, so I pat her shoulder comfortingly to immediately show a contrast between how Zabuza and I approach our apprentices.

[+10 Reputation with Haku Yuki!]

I'm going to steal your tool from you at this rate, Zabuza, you better watch out.

"And have you attack me before at least hearing what I say? Highly fucking unlikely." I shrug casually before using [Mokuton Chakra Manipulation] and [Shape Manipulation] to grow four chairs of wood from the ground, causing Zabuza's already panicked-feeling Chakra to start doing things I've never sensed before in a person.

Having your Chakra doing all that surely can't be healthy, he should probably stop that.

"Did you.. is that fucking Mokuton?" Zabuza asks breathlessly, causing me to nod and gesture for him to take the seat, which he did without further comment as Karin, Haku and I sat down as well.

"As you can see, I was holding back severely the last time we fought, please do not mistake my kindness for weakness." I start slowly with a good, old fashioned bluff that I just dare Zabuza to call after he saw me use such an exclusive Chakra nature. "That being said, I am here to negotiate a contract with you, if you would be interested in listening to my proposal before outright denying me?"

When Zabuza made no motion to argue or leave, still likely thunderstruck that he had an Uzumaki capable of wielding the fabled Mokuton Kekkai Tota sitting in front of him, I continued where I left off.

"My name is Nemui Uzumaki, and my goal for the future is to end the many threats plaguing these lands before they can end all of us. This includes Yagura, and the man currently controlling him like a puppet, obviously." I finally say after mulling over the many options available to me, as far as explaining my goals go.

Zabuza and Haku both suck in a sharp breath upon hearing me say Yagura is being controlled like a puppet, but neither argue against my admission, meaning they likely already theorized as much.

"Obviously, I'm not strong enough on my own to deal with all of the threats we as a species currently face as of this moment, only most, hence why I wish to recruit you and Haku to my cause. In return for your allegiance, I am more than willing to not only bankroll the ongoing rebellion in Mizu, I am willing to personally help take down Yagura and instill you as Godaime Mizukage, should you take my offer." I finish while dangling multiple pieces of bait for Zabuza to latch onto, just in case one doesn't work.

"You're being serious right now." Zabuza says after a moment nearly breathlessly, "I couldn't detect a single lie in your voice, but that doesn't mean I believe you. Tell me, why do you believe Yagura is being controlled?" 

"I don't think he is being controlled, I know he is, and by whom." I shrug in response, knowing that I can't just put and say who is controlling him yet until I was strong enough to take Obito down permanently, "Their name is irrelevant, just know that I plan on killing them in the very near future after dealing with their puppet."

Sadly, I cannot offer any more proof than my word alone, but that seems to be enough for Zabuza, for now.

"And this puppet master is somehow a threat to our entire species?" Zabuza questions after a moment in confusion, "Yagura is powerful, but I wouldn't consider him extinction levels powerful."

"Oh, Yagura isn't. Hell, the person controlling them isn't either, but the person they work for is, and the person they are trying to resurrect, even more so." I elaborate while deciding to throw Zabuza a bone, "surely you've heard the name Madara Uchiha before, yes?"

"No fucking way…" Zabuza flinches slightly at the thought of someone like Madara still being around, "are you being serious right now?"

"Dead fucking serious, Zabuza. There is a man out there, right now, controlling Yagura, who plans on reviving Madara fucking Uchiha using Edo Tensei, and I need your help stopping them before they jump start the end of the world." I lean back in my rather uncomfortable chain while pretending to inspect my fingernails, "Now, I don't know about you, but I'm glad Madara is dead, and I have absolutely no desire to see that mad man be reborn."

"... Why should I believe a word you have to say?" Zabuza questions almost petulantly after a moment, his Chakra smoothing out and becoming as calm as it could be after having S-ranked information being dropped on his head casually, "How would you even benefit from my help against someone like that?"

"Didn't you hear me, Zabuza? I cannot do everything alone, and having the help of someone like the Demon of the Mist can surely only help. I've got more than enough money to pay you off and more than enough knowledge to turn you into an S-rank threat in less than a month, should you decide to throw your weight in with Team Uzu." I once more shrug while gesturing towards Karin, "In less than a month, I've turned my apprentice from a budding Genin to high Chuunin as far as power scaling goes, and I've only taught her a portion of what I know. Imagine what a Jounin can do with my help."

"Brat, you think I care about power? I don't give a shit if you can turn me into a Kage over night, just give me a good god damn reason I should work with a fucking Uzumaki of all people." Zabuza growls slowly, causing me to ponder just what it was my clan had done to this man in the past. "I was twelve years old when I first met one of you monsters. That bitch, the fucking habanero, turned my Sensei into minced meat with her chains. I only survived that encounter by hiding beneath his corpse and praying she would spare me. Now, tell me, why should I agree to fucking work with you? Huh?"

Ah, okay, I'm not letting this one slide. Nope, gonna have to shut down that line of thinking now.

"So this was after you personally slaughtered every single person in Kiri's academy while not even being an official student, right? Do you even have a right to complain about an Uzumaki killing your Sensei, let alone Kushina of all people? Did your Sensei happen to participate in the sacking of Uzushio, by any chance?" I question with a bit of heat to my tone, causing Zabuza to lean back in his chair as he seems to realize he was talking to someone who knew their history, "Look, join me or don't, I really couldn't care less, but one way or another, I'm going to kill Yagura and I'm going to steal the Sanbi, no matter what. It would be prudent of you to accept my offer to join the winning team now, rather than risk facing me on the battlefield again when I'm going all out, because I won't spare your life twice."

[+100 Reputation with Karin Uzumaki!]

[+50 Reputation with Haku Yuki!]

[+50 Reputation with Zabuza Momochi!]

Gott'em.

[PB]

The next few days of my life after successfully recruiting Zabuza and Haku to my side were spent consolidating my control over Nami, starting swathes of new farmlands with judicious usage of Shadow Clones and Hatton Chakra, reclaiming the many seafaring vessels owned by Gatou that had been stolen by his fleeing henchmen and starting what will eventually be the ground army of a new Uzushio. 

It isn't much, but the change in the atmosphere here in Nami was practically visible to me, irregardless of the Juinjutsu sealing my eyes. The people were much happier now than they were even a week prior, even if they had traded one dictator for another.

All it took was providing food to eat, lumber for new homes and a promise of a brighter future to have thousands upon thousands of people chanting my fucking name to the heavens.

It was beautiful, and terrifying.

I never thought I'd have my own cult of personality, but here we are, I guess.

Beyond kickstarting the economy of Nami by providing a thousand ryo to every household that fell beneath a certain income, most of which came right back to me anyway since these folks were buying my products, I spent quite a bit of time with Team Eight. 

It turns out that I can mix [Psychometry] with my fighting style very easily now that my Chakra regeneration speed has been enhanced so thoroughly, and as a result, I now know basically everything Kurenai and her team knows, including how to enhance my senses and be a very potent genjutsu user.

If I had to guesstimate my current skill levels, I'd put myself at a mid-Jounin level in all but raw stats, and even those can be spoofed with enough Chakra. If we throw in [Yoton:Rin], [Sage Mode - Nature] and [Megaton Punch]?

Low Sannin, maybe, if I go full balls to the wall.

Overall, I am very pleased with the progress I've made as far as filling out my skill set goes, even if my physical stats have stagnated once I reached the point where standard exercises no longer benefit me. 

That said, though, I've reached the point now where I absolutely need to start working on my fuinjutsu mastery, and the only way I can do that is by visiting the Uzumaki clans ancestral homeland, Uzushiogakure.

"Nemui-dono, do you mind if we speak for a moment?" I hear Kurenai's voice cutting in over the din of construction workers milling about, causing me to turn away from observing the progress of Tazuna's bridge project that I was now bankrolling to help further build rapport amongst the civilian population that now answered to me. "It's rather… urgent."

I nod in Kurenai's direction while gesturing for her to lead on, leaving my growing army of Shadow Clones behind to help facilitate the construction project when needed while quickly pondering what Kurenai could possibly want with me now.

Obviously she doesn't want to spar, especially after I had locked her in a Genjutsu during our last bout that made her basically swing at the air for about thirty minutes before she finally caught on to what I had done.

For a Genjutsu Mistress, she sure doesn't check to make sure she isn't fighting an opponent who can turn her specialty against her. She should work on that.

"I have just received a missive from Hokage-Sama requesting an alliance between the country of Nami and Konohagakure no Sato. Would you be opposed to having me read the missive, word for word, to you?" Kurenai questions unsurely as she seems to search my face for something I couldn't hope to comprehend, "Considering your disability, of course."

You know, most people just hand me paperwork then act surprised when I immediately hand it back and ask for them to read it aloud. At least Kurenai seems to pay attention to the fact that I wear fucking bandages around my eyes for a reason.

"It would be appreciated, Kurenai-san." I gesture for her to continue after assuming a more serious persona for the moment, since I'm now being forced to act in an official capacity of sorts.

See, I can be mature when I want to, I just usually don't feel like it.

So I listened for around ten minutes as Kurenai listed off legal jargon that basically amounted to one message and one message alone.

Konoha wants exclusive rights to our food exports and in return, they will provide 'security' for us at a 'discounted' rate.

That's not going to be happening.

"Kurenai-san, as… nice as the offer sounds, I'm afraid I will have to politely decline Hokage-dono's request as it does not serve in Nami's best interests. Perhaps in the future, but for now, Nami will remain a neutral party when it comes to the affairs of mainland politics." I eventually say as diplomatically as I can, a response Kurenai was no doubt expecting after she had personally read off just how bad of a deal I was being offered. "I refuse to accept foreign occupation under the guise of peace keeping or security, especially now of all times when the people of Nami are finally getting a taste of actual freedom."

"I see…" Kurenai trails off awkwardly, knowing that she should likely try to argue in favor of her home village but finding herself unable to do so under these circumstances. "Do you wish to reply to Hokage-Sama personally by letter, or should I?"

"You may do so, if you wouldn't mind. I don't trust my apprentice not to turn this entire fiasco into a nightmare by trying to prank your Hokage." I admit while rubbing my forehead in frustration, "I've only just been able to wash that ridiculous dye from my hair."

Kurenai suppresses a snort and nods in acceptance before turning to make her way back to the bridge, only to pause mid-step to turn back to me. "A few days ago, you mentioned that you wouldn't trust Konoha with any of your clan members. Why is that?"

Oh, I see the seeds of doubt I've been sewing amongst Team Eight is starting to take root. 

Good.

"That is a long story, Kurenai-san, but it can be simplified as this. Four great clans went in together to found Konoha, the Senju with their charisma, the Uchiha with their might, the Uzumaki with our ingenuity and the Hyuuga with their clarity. Of all four clans that created the mighty tree that is Konoha, only the clan with eyes that see all remain standing. This is the root of my issue with Konoha." I make sure to be facing Kurenai fully as I speak, since this moment right here is what might make or break my slowly fomented plans for Konoha, "How is it possible for the three clans responsible for producing monsters and legends like Ashina, Hashirama and Madara to end up dying out over the span of a few decades, while clans like the Hyuuga, Yamanaka, Sarutobi, Nara, Aburame and Akimichi remain mostly intact?"

Kurenai's Chakra suddenly went cold as the implications of my words set in, and she motioned to refute my subtle accusations, but found herself drawing blanks on how to do so.

"I see that you are slowly starting to understand the implications, but I guess I'll just outright say it as plain as I can. I believe someone or something in Konoha is directly responsible for wiping out three of the four clans that descended from the Sage of Six Paths and his brother, and I refuse to allow myself or my remaining family to even loosely associate with such a being, should they truly exist like I fear." I trail off and allow Kurenai to absorb all that I had to say for a moment before finishing driving the nail home. "Should I be right, there is someone intentionally targeting my extended family and possibly the other minor clans as well. Should I be wrong, that is still one hell of a coincidence. Either way, aligning with Konoha as it is today is not in my best interest."

Kurenai didn't know what to say to that, nor did Kiba, Shino and Hinata, who had been listening in on our conversation from afar using various means.

Oh yeah, I'm just sure Danzo and Hiruzen are going to enjoy having their dirty laundry aired so blatantly, let alone to three clan heirs who will likely bring up these exact points with their parents as soon as they get home.

I don't expect Konoha to remain standing for another year if even one of these four blab my rather well founded theories loud enough for someone else to overhear and draw the same conclusions, be it Sasuke, Naruto or just their parents.

Tsume would go apeshit and Hiashi would likely see my point, so the only tossup here is Shino's father.

Either way, I still win, and that's all that matters to me.

"Just think about what I've said for a few days and get back with me, Kurenai-san. Hopefully you know enough to put my fears to rest." I break the uncomfortable silence that descended over the small section of the bridge we occupied as to mostly avoid prying eyes and ears, "now if you'll excuse me, I should really go make sure my clones are actually working and not slacking off like they've become prone to do lately."

And I wasn't lying, either. Maybe I shouldn't have nationalized that one warehouse full of special tobacco, and by that I mean seized for myself.

I pull out my long, old japanese styled, jewel encrusted ivory pipe that had been hidden in the bottom of one of Gatou's vaults and take another drag regardless with a quick application of a downgraded campfire starting jutsu.

Damn I'm starting to love this place, this shit is pretty decent.


End file.
